Epitaxial Ferroelectric Hexagonal Boron Nitride Grown on Graphene
Abstract
Abstract Ferroelectricity realized in van der Waals (vdW) materials with non‐centrosymmetric stacking configurations holds promise for future 2D devices with nonvolatile and reconfigurable functionalities. However, the epitaxial growth of ferroelectric vdW materials often struggles to achieve an energetically unfavorable stacking configuration that enables electric polarization. This challenge is particularly evident when performing heteroepitaxy on another vdW substrate to create versatile and scalable ferroelectric building blocks designed for large‐area, atomic‐scale thicknesses. Here, epitaxial hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) multilayer films are successfully grew on single‐crystal graphene synthesized on a miscut SiC (0001) substrate. Theoretical calculations illustrate that the moiré‐patterned h‐BN/graphene hetero‐interface intrinsically exhibits polarization, leading to a polarized AB stacking in multilayer h‐BN films to minimize the total formation energy, which is validated experimentally by the layer‐dependent band dispersions. The as‐grown multilayer h‐BN layers demonstrated robust, homogeneous ferroelectricity with switchable out‐of‐plane polarization via interlayer sliding. This study establishes an effective route for stacking‐controlled heteroepitaxy, enabling the large‐scale integration of vdW materials with ferroelectricity and versatile functionalities, offering a promising platform for next‐generation 2D ferroelectric devices.
Article Details
Authors (18)
Sheng‐Shong Wong
Department of Physics National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan
Zhen‐You Lin
Department of Physics National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan
Sheng‐Zhu Ho
Department of Physics National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan
Chih‐En Hsu
Department of Physics Tamkang University New Taipei City 251301 Taiwan
Ping‐Hung Li
Department of Physics National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan
Ching‐Yu Chen
Department of Physics National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan
Yen‐Fu Huang
Department of Physics National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan
Kuo‐En Chang
Department of Physics National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan
Yu‐Chiang Hsieh
Department of Physics National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan
Chia‐Hao Chen
National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC) Hsinchu 30076 Taiwan
Ming‐Hao Lee
The Key Consortium of Electron Microscopy National Taiwan University Taipei 10617 Taiwan
Ming‐Wen Chu
The Key Consortium of Electron Microscopy National Taiwan University Taipei 10617 Taiwan
Kuang‐I Lin
Core Facility Center National Cheng Kung University Tainan 701 Taiwan
Tse‐Ming Chen
Department of Physics National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan
Yi‐Chun Chen
Department of Physics National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan
Hung‐Chung Hsueh
Department of Physics Tamkang University New Taipei City 251301 Taiwan
Cheng‐Maw Cheng
National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC) Hsinchu 30076 Taiwan
Chung‐Lin Wu
Department of Physics National Cheng Kung University Tainan 70101 Taiwan