Yoshiaki Hattori

Layer-by-layer dielectric breakdown of hexagonal boron nitride.

Hexagonal boron nitride (BN) is widely used as a substrate and gate insulator for two-dimensional (2D) electronic devices. The studies on insulating properties and electrical reliability of BN itself, however, are quite limited. Here, we report a systematic investigation of the dielectric breakdown characteristics of BN using conductive atomic force microscopy. The electric field strength was found to be ∼ 12 MV/cm, which is comparable to that of conventional SiO2 oxides because of the covalent bonding nature of BN. After the hard dielectric breakdown, the BN fractured like a flower into equilateral triangle fragments. However, when the applied voltage was terminated precisely in the middle of the dielectric breakdown, the formation of a hole that did not penetrate to the bottom metal electrode was clearly observed. Subsequent I-V measurements of the hole indicated that the BN layer remaining in the hole was still electrically inactive. On the basis of these observations, layer-by-layer breakdown was confirmed for BN with regard to both physical fracture and electrical breakdown. Moreover, statistical analysis of the breakdown voltages using a Weibull plot suggested the anisotropic formation of defects. These results are unique to layered materials and unlike the behavior observed for conventional 3D amorphous oxides.

Fully dry PMMA transfer of graphene on h-BN using a heating/cooling system

The key to achieve high-quality van der Waals heterostructure devices made of stacking various two-dimensional (2D) layered materials lies in the clean interface without bubbles and wrinkles. Although polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is generally used as a sacrificial transfer film due to its strong adhesion property, it is always dissolved in the solvent after the transfer, resulting in the unavoidable PMMA residue on the top surface. This makes it difficult to locate clean interface areas. In this work, we present a fully dry PMMA transfer of graphene onto h-BN using a heating/cooling system which allows identification of clean interface area for high quality graphene/h-BN heterostructure fabrication. The mechanism lies in the utilization of the large difference in thermal expansion coefficients between polymers (PMMA/PDMS) and inorganic materials (graphene/h-BN substrate) to mechanically peel off PMMA from graphene by the thermal shrinkage of polymers, leaving no PMMA residue on the graphene surface. This method can be applied to all types of 2D layered materials.

Anisotropic dielectric breakdown strength of single crystal hexagonal boron nitride

Dielectric breakdown has historically been of great interest from the perspectives of fundamental physics and electrical reliability. However, to date, the anisotropy in the dielectric breakdown has not been discussed. Here, we report an anisotropic dielectric breakdown strength (EBD) for h-BN, which is used as an ideal substrate for two-dimensional (2D) material devices. Under a well-controlled relative humidity, EBD values in the directions both normal and parallel to the c axis (EBD⊥c and EBD∥c) were measured to be 3 and 12 MV/cm, respectively. When the crystal structure is changed from sp3 of cubic-BN (c-BN) to sp2 of h-BN, EBD⊥c for h-BN becomes smaller than that for c-BN, while EBD∥c for h-BN drastically increases. Therefore, h-BN can possess a relatively high EBD concentrated only in the direction parallel to the c axis by conceding a weak bonding direction in the highly anisotropic crystal structure. This explains why the EBD∥c for h-BN is higher than that for diamond. Moreover, the presented EBD value obtained from the high quality bulk h-BN crystal can be regarded as the standard for qualifying the crystallinity of h-BN layers grown via chemical vapor deposition for future electronic applications.

Comparison of device structures for the dielectric breakdown measurement of hexagonal boron nitride

Improving the film quality in the synthesis of large-area hexagonal boron nitride films (h-BN) for two-dimensional material devices remains a great challenge. The measurement of electrical breakdown dielectric strength (EBD) is one of the most important methods to elucidate the insulating quality of h-BN. In this work, the EBD of high quality exfoliated single-crystal h-BN was investigated using three different electrode structures under different environmental conditions to determine the ideal electrode structure and environment for EBD measurement. A systematic investigation revealed that EBD is not sensitive to contact force or electrode area but strongly depends on the relative humidity during measurement. Once the measurement environment is properly managed, it was found that the EBD values are consistent within experimental error regardless of the electrode structure, which enables the evaluation of the crystallinity of synthesized h-BN at the microscopic and macroscopic level by utilizing the three...

Determination of Carrier Polarity in Fowler–Nordheim Tunneling and Evidence of Fermi Level Pinning at the Hexagonal Boron Nitride/Metal Interface

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is an important insulating substrate for two-dimensional (2D) heterostructure devices and possesses high dielectric strength comparable to SiO2. Here, we report two clear differences in their physical properties. The first one is the occurrence of Fermi level pinning at the metal/h-BN interface, unlike that at the metal/SiO2 interface. The second one is that the carrier of Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) tunneling through h-BN is a hole, which is opposite to an electron in the case of SiO2. These unique characteristics are verified by I- V measurements in the graphene/h-BN/metal heterostructure device with the aid of a numerical simulation, where the barrier height of graphene can be modulated by a back gate voltage owing to its low density of states. Furthermore, from a systematic investigation using a variety of metals, it is confirmed that the hole F-N tunneling current is a general characteristic because the Fermi levels of metals are pinned in the small energy range around ∼3.5 eV from the top of the conduction band of h-BN, with a pinning factor of 0.30. The accurate energy band alignment at the h-BN/metal interface provides practical knowledge for 2D heterostructure devices.

Dielectric breakdown of layered insulator

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), an insulating layered material with a wide band gap, is widely utilized as the substrate and gate insulator to achieve high carrier mobility in layered channel materials, especially graphene. However little study has been conducted on the statistical analysis of the breakdown voltages and the breakdown mechanism. Generally the dielectric breakdown of SiO2, conventional three-dimensional (3D) amorphous oxides is simply explained by a percolation model. It has not been determined whether the dielectric breakdowns of 2D layered materials follow the general breakdown phenomena for 3D amorphous oxides. In this study, the dielectric breakdown process of BN is investigated electrically and mechanically using conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) and proposed a breakdown model for insulating layered material.