Wafer-scale single-crystal hexagonal boron nitride film via self-collimated grain formation

Wafer-scale hBN crystalline films Although wafer-scale polycrystalline films of insulating hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) can be grown, the grain boundaries can cause both scattering or pinning of charge carriers in adjacent conducting layers that impair device performance. Lee et al. grew wafer-scale single-crystal films of hBN by feeding the precursors into molten gold films on tungsten substrates. The low solubility of boron and nitrogen in gold caused micrometer-scale grains of hBN to form that coalesced into single crystals. These films in turn supported the growth of epitaxial wafer-scale films of graphene and tungsten disulfide. Science , this issue p. 817