Enhanced nucleation of germanium on graphene: Via dipole engineering

Jinkyoung Yoo, Towfiq Ahmed, Renjie Chen, Aiping Chen, Yeon Hoo Kim, Ki Chang Kwon, Chan Woong Park, Hee Seong Kang, Ho Won Jang, Young Joon Hong, Woo Seok Yang, Chul Ho Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The preparation of crystalline materials on incommensurate substrates has been a key topic of epitaxy. van der Waals (vdW) epitaxy on two-dimensional (2D) materials opened novel opportunities of epitaxial growth overcoming the materials compatibility issue. Therefore, vdW epitaxy has been considered as a promising approach for the preparation of building blocks of flexible devices and thin film-based devices at the nano/microscale. However, an understanding of vdW epitaxy has not been thoroughly established. Especially, controlling nucleation during vdW epitaxy has not been achieved although nucleation in vdW epitaxy is suppressed due to the absence of surface dangling bonds on 2D materials. Here we show an enhancement of nucleation probability of germanium on graphene via introducing an out-of-plane dipole moment without any change in the chemical nature of graphene. A graphene/hexagonal boron nitride stack and transferred graphene on a polarized ferroelectric thin film were employed to demonstrate the significant enhancement of Ge nucleation on graphene. Theoretical calculations and chemical vapor deposition were employed to elucidate the effect of the out-of-plane dipole moment on nucleation in vdW epitaxy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5689-5694
Number of pages6
JournalNanoscale
Volume10
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018 Mar 28

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was performed in part at CINT, a U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences User Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (Contract DE-AC52-06NA25396) and Sandia National Laboratories (Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000), and funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program at LANL.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science

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