Electrical properties and applications of graphene, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and graphene/h-BN heterostructures

Two-dimensional (2D) graphene has unique electrical properties such as high mobility and ballistic transport at room temperature. Two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has similar lattice structure to graphene and has a lattice mismatch with graphene of less than 1.7%. At the same time, h-BN has an atomic level of flat surface, B atoms and N atoms saturated into the bond, the graphene based on h-BN substrate has a very high mobility, which was considered the highest among the insulating substrates. H-BN is an insulator or wide bandgap semiconductor with excellent mechanical properties and excellent thermal and chemical stability. When a heterostructures of graphene and h-BN is formed, the complex exhibits its own unique electrical properties; this enables to have a broad prospect in the fabrication of nanoelectronic devices. (c) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.