SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF 2D MATERIALS AND HETEROSTRUCTURES

The interest in 2D layered materials has been renovated with the successful isolation of single- and few-layer graphene in 2004 and the elucidation of its outstanding electronic properties. Since then, the research on graphene and other atomic-films has been exponentially increased and new interesting phenomena and applications were demonstrated. The intense study of the growth mechanism of graphene has enabled today the growth of millimeter-size single-crystal and single-layer graphene domains. This was achieved by understanding the basic processes taking place during the growth. Little is known, however, about the growth mechanism of other 2D materials. The ability to synthesize large-area and high quality atomic films is a prerequisite for their successful integration into a wide variety of applications.

In this talk, I will describe the growth mechanism of single and few-layer graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) films while pointing out the similarities and differences of these unique materials. The growth of single- and few-layer h-BN on nickel will be explained in detail.^{1, 2} In the second part I will describe our efforts to reveal the structure and chemical composition of atomic-films and their heterostructures. Specifically, the use of Raman spectroscopy and mapping, low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS)³ will be covered. I will finalize by introducing the work at the 2D materials Laboratory in Tel Aviv University.

1. Ismach, A.; Chou, H.; Ferrer, D. A.et al. Acs Nano 2012, 6, (7), 6378-6385.
2. Ismach, A.; Chou, H.; Mende, P.; Feenstra, R.; Wallace, R. M.; Colombo, L.; Ruoff, R. S. In Preparation
3. Chou, H.; Ismach, A.; Ghosh, R.; Ruoff, R. S.; Dolocan, A. Nature Communications 2015, 6.