Fluorinated graphene and hexagonal boron nitride as ALD seed layers for graphene-based van der Waals heterostructures

Nanotechnology. 2014 Sep 5;25(35):355202. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/25/35/355202. Epub 2014 Aug 12.

Abstract

Ultrathin dielectric materials prepared by atomic-layer-deposition (ALD) technology are commonly used in graphene electronics. Using the first-principles density functional theory calculations with van der Waals (vdW) interactions included, we demonstrate that single-side fluorinated graphene (SFG) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) exhibit large physical adsorption energy and strong electrostatic interactions with H2O-based ALD precursors, indicating their potential as the ALD seed layer for dielectric growth on graphene. In graphene-SFG vdW heterostructures, graphene is n-doped after ALD precursor adsorption on the SFG surface caused by vertical intrinsic polarization of SFG. However, graphene-h-BN vdW heterostructures help preserving the intrinsic characteristics of the underlying graphene due to in-plane intrinsic polarization of h-BN. By choosing SFG or BN as the ALD seed layer on the basis of actual device design needs, the graphene vdW heterostructures may find applications in low-dimensional electronics.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.