title: Chemical vapor deposition and etching of high-quality monolayer hexagonal boron nitride films.
abstract: The growth of large-area hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) monolayers on catalytic metal substrates is a topic of scientific and technological interest. We have used real-time microscopy during the growth process to study h-BN chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from borazine on Ru(0001) single crystals and thin films. At low borazine pressures, individual h-BN domains nucleate sparsely, grow to macroscopic dimensions, and coalescence to form a closed monolayer film. A quantitative analysis shows borazine adsorption and dissociation predominantly on Ru, with the h-BN covered areas being at least 100 times less reactive. We establish strong effects of hydrogen added to the CVD precursor gas in controlling the in-plane expansion and morphology of the growing h-BN domains. High-temperature exposure of h-BN/Ru to pure hydrogen causes the controlled edge detachment of B and N and can be used as a clean etching process for h-BN on metals.
authors.affiliation: Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA. psutter@bnl.gov
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sutter
authors.forename: Jayeeta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lahiri
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Albrecht
authors.forename: Eli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sutter