Room-temperature intrinsic excitonic luminescence from a hexagonal boron nitride thin film grown on a sapphire substrate by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition using BCl3 as a boron source

A hexagonal boron nitride thin film was prepared on a c-plane sapphire substrate at a substrate temperature of 1200 degrees C and a reactor pressure of 5 kPa by chemical vapor deposition using BCl3 as a boron source. The film, consisting of columnar grains with flat top surfaces, grew epitaxially on the substrate. This sample showed pronounced intrinsic exciton cathodoluminescence (CL) at 215 nm at room temperature, although broad emission at around 350 nm was dominant. Note that the spectrum shape in the band edge region closely matched that observed for a high-quality bulk crystal in terms of peak wavelength and width. The CL images of the surface revealed the correlation between the film structure and the luminescence property, where the intrinsic excitonic luminescence was exhibited only from the columnar grains, whereas the impurity- and/or the defect-related emissions were observed mainly from surface defects with randomly oriented grains.

Automated summary

A hexagonal boron nitride thin film was grown on a c-plane sapphire substrate using BCl3 as the boron source via chemical vapor deposition at a substrate temperature of 1200 degrees C and a reactor pressure of 5 kPa. The film exhibited intrinsic exciton cathodoluminescence, with emission mainly coming from specific columnar grains and surface defects. The correlation between film structure and luminescent properties was observed, with different emissions originating from different types of grains and defects.