h- BN sheets could help to replace silicon graphene
Researchers have discovered how to make h- BN sheets , which could become a nice complement to the graphene. Graphene , touted as a possible successor to silicon in microelectronic applications , is the new star of the research laboratories that hope to capitalize on its magnificent electronic properties.
hexagonal boron nitride, Or h- BN is an insulator. Earlier this year, Rice postdoctoral researchers found a way to implement islands of h- BN graphene sheet , a unique form of exercise a degree of control over the electronic character of the leaf.
Now the team, led by the senior author Li Song, has figured out how to place the leaves of pure h- BN , which is naturally white in mass , anywhere from one to five atoms thick on a copper substrate . The material can then be transferred to other substrates.
They used a process of chemical vapor deposition to grow the h- BN sheets in a copper support 5 by 5 cm at temperatures around 1,000 degrees Celsius. The leaves may be stripped of copper and placed on a variety of substrates.
Song is in the h- BN sheets a very effective insulator in electronics based on graphene which is a big step towards the replacement of silicon with materials that go beyond the limits of Moore’s Law .
