Molecular beam epitaxial growth of hexagonal boron nitride on Ni foils. (30th July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hadid, Jawad; Colambo, Ivy; Boyaval, Christophe; Nuns, Nicolas; Dudin, Pavel; Avila, Jose; Wallart, Xavier; Vignaud, Dominique
• Is Part Of: 2D materials. Volume 8:Number 4(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-07-30
• Subjects: hexagonal boron nitride -- molecular beam epitaxy -- photoemission spectroscopy; Graphene -- Periodicals; Materials science -- Periodicals; Nanostructured materials -- Periodicals; 620.115
• DOI: 10.1088/2053-1583/ac1502
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2053-1583

Abstract

Abstract: Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) was synthesized by molecular beam epitaxy on polycrystalline Ni foils using borazine (B3 N3 H6 ) as precursor. Our photoemission analysis shows that several components of boron and nitrogen are detected, suggesting the complex nature of the bonds noticeably at the h-BN/Ni interface. The BN thickness was estimated by photoemission and the BN distribution by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy. Due to the catalytic effect of the Ni substrate, this thickness is self-limited in the range 1–2 layers regardless of the borazine dose. A spatially resolved photoemission study was carried out before and after transfer of the h-BN on a Si substrate. It shows that a strong electronic coupling exists at the interface between h-BN and polycrystalline Ni, not only for (111) grains, which disappears after transfer on Si. In addition, we highlight the importance of detecting π plasmons in the photoemission spectra to confirm the hexagonal nature of BN.