High-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride layers

The growth and properties of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have recently attracted much attention due to applications in graphene-based monolayer thick 2D-structures and at the same time as a wide band gap material for deep-ultraviolet device (DUV) applications. We present our results on the high-te...

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Main Authors: Cheng, Tin S., Summerfield, Alex, Mellor, Christopher J., Davies, Andrew, Khlobystov, Andrei N., Eaves, Laurence, Foxon, C.T., Beton, Peter H., Novikov, Sergei V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing 2018
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49392/
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author Cheng, Tin S.
Summerfield, Alex
Mellor, Christopher J.
Davies, Andrew
Khlobystov, Andrei N.
Eaves, Laurence
Foxon, C.T.
Beton, Peter H.
Novikov, Sergei V.
author_facet Cheng, Tin S.
Summerfield, Alex
Mellor, Christopher J.
Davies, Andrew
Khlobystov, Andrei N.
Eaves, Laurence
Foxon, C.T.
Beton, Peter H.
Novikov, Sergei V.
author_sort Cheng, Tin S.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The growth and properties of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have recently attracted much attention due to applications in graphene-based monolayer thick 2D-structures and at the same time as a wide band gap material for deep-ultraviolet device (DUV) applications. We present our results on the high-temperature plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE) of hBN monolayers on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrates. Our results demonstrate that PA-MBE growth at temperatures ~1390 oC can achieve mono- and few-layer thick hBN with a control of the hBN coverage and atomically flat hBN surfaces which is essential for 2D applications of hBN layers. The hBN monolayer coverage can be reproducible controlled by the PA-MBE growth temperature, time and B:N flux ratios. Significantly thicker hBN layers have been achieved at higher B:N flux ratios. We observed a gradual increase of the hBN thickness from 40 to 70 nm by decreasing the growth temperature from 1390 oC to 1080 oC. However, by decreasing the MBE growth temperature below 1250 oC, we observe a rapid degradation of the optical properties of hBN layers. Therefore, high-temperature PA-MBE, above 1250 oC, is a viable approach for the growth of high-quality hBN layers for 2D and DUV applications.
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spelling nottingham-493922020-05-08T09:30:16Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49392/ High-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride layers Cheng, Tin S. Summerfield, Alex Mellor, Christopher J. Davies, Andrew Khlobystov, Andrei N. Eaves, Laurence Foxon, C.T. Beton, Peter H. Novikov, Sergei V. The growth and properties of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have recently attracted much attention due to applications in graphene-based monolayer thick 2D-structures and at the same time as a wide band gap material for deep-ultraviolet device (DUV) applications. We present our results on the high-temperature plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE) of hBN monolayers on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrates. Our results demonstrate that PA-MBE growth at temperatures ~1390 oC can achieve mono- and few-layer thick hBN with a control of the hBN coverage and atomically flat hBN surfaces which is essential for 2D applications of hBN layers. The hBN monolayer coverage can be reproducible controlled by the PA-MBE growth temperature, time and B:N flux ratios. Significantly thicker hBN layers have been achieved at higher B:N flux ratios. We observed a gradual increase of the hBN thickness from 40 to 70 nm by decreasing the growth temperature from 1390 oC to 1080 oC. However, by decreasing the MBE growth temperature below 1250 oC, we observe a rapid degradation of the optical properties of hBN layers. Therefore, high-temperature PA-MBE, above 1250 oC, is a viable approach for the growth of high-quality hBN layers for 2D and DUV applications. AIP Publishing 2018-02-28 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49392/8/1.5011280.pdf Cheng, Tin S., Summerfield, Alex, Mellor, Christopher J., Davies, Andrew, Khlobystov, Andrei N., Eaves, Laurence, Foxon, C.T., Beton, Peter H. and Novikov, Sergei V. (2018) High-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride layers. Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B, 36 (2). 02D103-1. ISSN 2166-2754 http://avs.scitation.org/doi/10.1116/1.5011280 doi:10.1116/1.5011280 doi:10.1116/1.5011280
spellingShingle Cheng, Tin S.
Summerfield, Alex
Mellor, Christopher J.
Davies, Andrew
Khlobystov, Andrei N.
Eaves, Laurence
Foxon, C.T.
Beton, Peter H.
Novikov, Sergei V.
High-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride layers
title High-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride layers
title_full High-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride layers
title_fullStr High-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride layers
title_full_unstemmed High-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride layers
title_short High-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride layers
title_sort high-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride layers
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49392/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49392/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49392/