title: Epitaxial chemical vapour deposition growth of monolayer hexagonal boron nitride on a Cu(111)/sapphire substrate.
abstract: Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), an atomically thin insulating material, shows a large band gap, mechanical flexibility, and optical transparency. It can be stacked with other two-dimensional (2D) materials through van der Waals interactions to form layered heterostructures. These properties promise its application as an insulating layer of novel 2D electronic devices due to its atomically smooth surface with a large band gap. Herein, we demonstrated the ambient-pressure chemical vapour deposition (CVD) growth of high-quality, large-area monolayer h-BN on a Cu(111) thin film deposited on a c-plane sapphire using ammonia borane (BH3NH3) as the feedstock. Highly oriented triangular h-BN grains grow on Cu(111), which finally coalescence to cover the entire Cu surface. Low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) measurements indicated that the hexagonal lattice of the monolayer h-BN is well-oriented along the underlying Cu(111) lattice, thus implying the epitaxial growth of h-BN, which can be applied in various 2D electronic devices.
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan. ago.hiroki.974@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan. ago.hiroki.974@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Tasuku
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwaizako
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan. ago.hiroki.974@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Seigi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mizuno
authors.affiliation: Research and Education Center of Carbon Resources, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan. ago.hiroki.974@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp and Global Innovation Center (GIC), Kyushu University, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan and PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Saitama 332-0012, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0908-5883
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ago