Caneva, SabinaMartin, Marie-BlandineD'Arsie, LorenzoAria, Adrianus IndratSezen, HikmetAmati, MatteoGregoratti, LucaSugime, HisashiEsconjauregui, SantiagoRobertson, JohnHofmann, StephanWeatherup, Robert S.2017-10-122017-10-122017-08-08Caneva S, Martin M-B, D'Arsie L, et al., From growth surface to device interface: preserving metallic Fe under monolayer hexagonal boron nitride, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2017, Vol. 9, Issue 35, pp. 29973-299811944-8244http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b08717https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/12621We investigate the interfacial chemistry between Fe catalyst foils and monolayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) following chemical vapor deposition and during subsequent atmospheric exposure, using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, and scanning photoelectron microscopy. We show that regions of the Fe surface covered by h-BN remain in a metallic state during exposure to moist air for ∼40 h at room temperature. This protection is attributed to the strong interfacial interaction between h-BN and Fe, which prevents the rapid intercalation of oxidizing species. Local Fe oxidation is observed on bare Fe regions and close to defects in the h-BN film (e.g., domain boundaries, wrinkles, and edges), which over the longer-term provide pathways for slow bulk oxidation of Fe. We further confirm that the interface between h-BN and metallic Fe can be recovered by vacuum annealing at ∼600 °C, although this is accompanied by the creation of defects within the h-BN film. We discuss the importance of these findings in the context of integrated manufacturing and transfer-free device integration of h-BN, particularly for technologically important applications where h-BN has potential as a tunnel barrier such as magnetic tunnel junctions.enAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/Chemical vapor deposition (CVD)Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)Interfacial chemistryIron (Fe)X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)Article18269438