Growth, domain structure, and atomic adsorption sites of hBN on the Ni(111) surface

Miriam Raths, Christina Schott, Johannes Knippertz, Markus Franke, You-Ron Lin, Anja Haags, Martin Aeschlimann, Christian Kumpf, and Benjamin Stadtmüller
Phys. Rev. Materials 5, 094001 – Published 17 September 2021

Abstract

One of the most important functionalities of the atomically thin insulator hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is its ability to chemically and electronically decouple functional materials from highly reactive surfaces. It is therefore of utmost importance to uncover its structural properties on surfaces on an atomic and mesoscopic length scale. In this paper, we quantify the relative coverages of structurally different domains of a hBN layer on the Ni(111) surface using low-energy electron microscopy and the normal incidence x-ray standing wave technique. We find that hBN nucleates on defect sites of the Ni(111) surface and predominantly grows in two epitaxial domains that are rotated by 60 with respect to each other. The two domains reveal identical adsorption heights, indicating a similar chemical interaction strength with the Ni(111) surface. The different azimuthal orientations of these domains originate from different adsorption sites of N and B. We demonstrate that the majority (70%) of hBN domains exhibit a (N,B)=(top,fcc) adsorption site configuration while the minority (30%) show a (N,B)=(top,hcp) configuration. Our study hence underlines the crucial role of the atomic adsorption configuration in the mesoscopic domain structures of in situ fabricated two-dimensional materials on highly reactive surfaces.

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  • Received 1 July 2021
  • Accepted 27 August 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.5.094001

©2021 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Miriam Raths1,2,3,*, Christina Schott4,*, Johannes Knippertz4, Markus Franke1,2, You-Ron Lin1,2,3, Anja Haags1,2,3, Martin Aeschlimann4, Christian Kumpf1,2,3,†, and Benjamin Stadtmüller4,5,‡

  • 1Peter Grünberg Institut (PGI-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany
  • 2Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA) – Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, 52425 Jülich, Germany
  • 3Experimentalphysik IV A, RWTH Aachen University, Otto-Blumenthal-Straße, 52074 Aachen, Germany
  • 4Department of Physics and Research Center OPTIMAS, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schroedinger-Strasse 46, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany
  • 5Institute of Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Staudingerweg 7, 55128 Mainz, Germany

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • Corresponding author: c.kumpf@fz-juelich.de
  • Corresponding author: bstadtmueller@physik.uni-kl.de

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Issue

Vol. 5, Iss. 9 — September 2021

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