title: Catalyst-free growth of mono- and few-atomic-layer boron nitride sheets by chemical vapor deposition.
abstract: Boron nitride (BN) is a wide bandgap semiconductor with a structure analogous to graphite. Mono- and few-atomic-layer BN sheets have been grown on silicon substrates by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition from a gas mixture of BF(3)-H(2)-N(2) without using any catalysts. Growth of the BN sheets can be ascribed to the etching effects of the fluorine-containing gases and the thickness control down to mono- and few-atomic-layers was realized by decreasing the concentrations of BF(3) and H(2) in N(2). A large decrease of the BF(3) and H(2) concentrations was achieved by increasing the gas flow rate of N(2) and keeping the BF(3) and H(2) flow rates constant and the mono- and few-atomic-layered BN sheets were obtained at the BF(3), H(2) and N(2) flow rates of 3, 10, and 1200 sccm. The present mono- and few-atomic-layer BN sheets are promising for applications in catalyst supports, composites, gas adsorption, nanoelectronics, etc.
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Graduate School, Harbin Institute of Technology, Xili, Shenzhen 518055, People's Republic of China.
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Qin
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Yu
authors: Mingyu
authors: M
authors: Li
authors: Fei
authors: F
authors: Liu
authors: Xuedong
authors: X
authors: Bai