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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Aleksey KozikovORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Monolayer hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) tunnel barriers investigated using conductive atomic force microscopy reveal moiré patterns in the spatial maps of their tunnel conductance consistent with the formation of a moiré superlattice between the hBN and an underlying highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrate. This variation is attributed to a periodc modulation of the local density of states and occurs for both exfoliated hBN barriers and epitaxially grown layers. The epitaxial barriers also exhibit enhanced conductance at localized subnanometer regions which are attributed to exposure of the substrate to a nitrogen plasma source during the high temperature growth process. Our results show clearly a spatial periodicity of tunnel current due to the formation of a moiré superlattice and we argue that this can provide a mechanism for elastic scattering of charge carriers for similar interfaces embedded in graphene/hBN resonant tunnel diodes.
Author(s): Summerfield A, Kozikov A, Cheng TS, Davies A, Cho Y, Khlobystov AN, Mellor CJ, Foxon CT, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Eaves L, Novoselov K, Novikov SV, Beton PH
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Nano Letters
Year: 2018
Volume: 18
Pages: 4241-4246
Print publication date: 11/07/2018
Online publication date: 18/06/2018
Acceptance date: 15/06/2018
Date deposited: 19/06/2020
ISSN (print): 1530-6984
ISSN (electronic): 1530-6992
Publisher: American Chemical Society
URL: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b01223
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b01223
PubMed id: 29913062
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