Stacking fault and defects in single domain multilayered hexagonal boron nitride

Hugo Henck (1) , Debora Pierucci (1) , Zeineb Ben Aziza (1) , Mathieu G. Silly (2) , Bernard Gil (3) , Fausto Sirotti (2) , Guillaume Cassabois (3) , Abdelkarim Ouerghi (1)

1 LPN - Laboratoire de photonique et de nanostructures
2 SSOLEIL - Synchrotron SOLEIL
3 L2C - Laboratoire Charles Coulomb

Two dimensional materials like graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides, and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) have attracted a keen interest over the past few years due to their possible integration in the next generation of nano-components. Here, we used high resolution X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) to perform a complete study of stacking configuration and identify sp3 crystal deformations of a single domain h-BN crystal. The AA′ stacking was found to best reproduce features in the experimental B and N K-edges. The NEXAFS also shows that the splitting of the 1s to π* peak in the B K-edge, recently predicted by density functional theory, may be accounted for by the presence of AB′ stacking faults. The presence of this stacking fault has, as a result, the introduction of point defects in the crystal such as boron atoms in a pyramidal or sp3 configuration. Interstitial nitrogen defects are also present in the crystal forming a N-N pair as expected for a p-type h-BN crystal.

Domaines: Autre [cond-mat.other]

Hugo Henck, Debora Pierucci, Zeineb Ben Aziza, Mathieu G. Silly, Bernard Gil, et al.. Stacking fault and defects in single domain multilayered hexagonal boron nitride. Applied Physics Letters, 2017, 110 (2), pp.023101. ⟨10.1063/1.4972848⟩. ⟨hal-01475792⟩