Heteroepitaxial Growth of Two-Dimensional Hexagonal Boron Nitride Templated by Graphene Edges

A common method for creating a thin single-crystal layer of a semiconductor for use in an electronic device is heteroepitaxy—growing the layer on the face of a single crystal of a different material that acts as a template for assembly. Liu et al. (p. [163][1]) now describe a similar process in which the edge of a graphene layer that was grown on a copper surface directs the assembly of a monolayer of hexagonal boron nitride. The boron nitride grew from inside edge of holes created in the graphene layer. The interface and the relative orientation of the two layers were determined by a variety of scanning microscopy and surface diffraction techniques. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1246137