Opening of triangular hole in triangular-shaped chemical vapor deposited hexagonal boron nitride crystal
Description
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>In-plane heterostructure of monolayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and graphene is of great interest for its tunable bandgap and other unique properties. Here, we reveal a H<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>-induced etching process to introduce triangular hole in triangular-shaped chemical vapor deposited individual h-BN crystal. In this study, we synthesized regular triangular-shaped h-BN crystals with the sizes around 2-10 μm on Cu foil by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The etching behavior of individual h-BN crystal was investigated by annealing at different temperature in an H<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>:Ar atmosphere. Annealing at 900 °C, etching of h-BN was observed from crystal edges with no visible etching at the center of individual crystals. While, annealing at a temperature ≥950 °C, highly anisotropic etching was observed, where the etched areas were equilateral triangle-shaped with same orientation as that of original h-BN crystal. The etching process and well-defined triangular hole formation can be significant platform to fabricate planar heterostructure with graphene or other two-dimensional (2D) materials.</jats:p>
Journal
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- Scientific Reports
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Scientific Reports 5 (1), 10426-, 2015-05-21
Springer Science and Business Media LLC