Influence of Proximity to Supporting Substrate on van der Waals Epitaxy of Atomically Thin Graphene/Hexagonal Boron Nitride Heterostructures.

Combining graphene and the insulating hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) into two-dimensional heterostructures is promising for novel, atomically thin electronic nanodevices. A heteroepitaxial growth, in which these materials are grown on top of each other, will be crucial for their scalable device integration. However, during this so-called van der Waals epitaxy, not only the atomically thin substrate itself must be considered but also the influences from the supporting substrate below it.