One-Dimensional Corrugation of the h-BN Monolayer on Fe(110)

• Published in: Langmuir Vol. 28; no. 3; pp. 1775 - 1781
• Main Authors: Vinogradov, N. A, Zakharov, A. A, Ng, M. L, Mikkelsen, A, Lundgren, E, Mårtensson, N, Preobrajenski, A. B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 24.01.2012
• Subjects: Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics; Atom- och molekylfysik och optik; Chemistry; Exact sciences and technology; Fysik; General and physical chemistry; Natural Sciences; Naturvetenskap; Physical Sciences; Monolayer; Scanning tunneling microscopy; Energy; Growth; Electron diffraction; Boron nitride; Electron microscopy; Orientation; Structure; X ray absorption; Long range order
• ISSN: 0743-7463; 1520-5827; 1520-5827
• DOI: 10.1021/la2035642

We report on a new nanopatterned structure represented by a single atomic layer of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) forming long periodic waves on the Fe(110) surface. The growth process and the structure of this system are characterized by X-ray absorption (XAS), core-level photoemission spectroscopy (CL PES), low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM), microbeam low-energy electron diffraction (μLEED), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The h-BN monolayer on Fe(110) is periodically corrugated in a wavy fashion with an astonishing degree of long-range order, periodicity of 2.6 nm, and the corrugation amplitude of ∼0.8 Å. The wavy pattern results from a strong chemical bonding between h-BN and Fe in combination with a lattice mismatch in either [1̅11] or [11̅1] direction of the Fe(110) surface. Two primary orientations of h-BN on Fe(110) can be observed corresponding to the possible directions of lattice match between h-BN and Fe(110), with approximately equal area of the boron nitride domains of each orientation.