Silicon-assisted growth of hexagonal boron nitride to improve oxidation resistance of germanium
Chao Zhang, Boxiang Gao, Yihua Ran, Zhiyuan Shi, Hongyan Zhu, Hui Zhang, Jian Liu, Bo Yang, Zhi Liu, Tianru Wu, Xiaoming Xie
Abstract
Abstract Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is an exciting two dimensional dielectric due to its atomic flatness, free of dangling bonds, exceptional thermal and chemical stabilities. Here we report a method of silicon-assisted synthesis of monolayer h-BN on germanium (Ge) by chemical vapor deposition. The silicon atoms dissolve into Ge (110) and promote the growth of h-BN domains by formation of Si–N bonds. The oxidation dynamic shows that monolayer h-BN film is a high-performance passivation layer, preserving Ge from oxidation in air at high temperature. This work sheds lights on the outstanding oxidation resistance of h-BN for further Ge-based electronic devices.