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Title: Band gap effects of hexagonal boron nitride using oxygen plasma

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4872318· OSTI ID:22262579
;  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798 (Singapore)
  2. Temasek Laboratories-NTU, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798 (Singapore)

Tuning of band gap of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has been a challenging problem due to its inherent chemical stability and inertness. In this work, we report the changes in band gaps in a few layers of chemical vapor deposition processed as-grown h-BN using a simple oxygen plasma treatment. Optical absorption spectra show a trend of band gap narrowing monotonically from 6 eV of pristine h-BN to 4.31 eV when exposed to oxygen plasma for 12 s. The narrowing of band gap causes the reduction in electrical resistance by ∼100 fold. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results of plasma treated hexagonal boron nitride surface show the predominant doping of oxygen for the nitrogen vacancy. Energy sub-band formations inside the band gap of h-BN, due to the incorporation of oxygen dopants, cause a red shift in absorption edge corresponding to the band gap narrowing.

OSTI ID:
22262579
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 16; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English