Selective Defect Formation in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

Luminescent defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have emerged as promising single photon emitters (SPEs) due to their high brightness and robust operation at room temperature. The ability to create such emitters with well-defined optical properties is a cornerstone toward their integration into on-chip photonic architectures. Here, an effective approach is reported to fabricate hBN SPEs with desired emission properties in distinct spectral regions via the manipulation of boron diffusion through copper during atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-a process termed gettering. Using the gettering technique the resulting zero-phonon line is deterministically placed between the regions 550 and 600 nm or from 600 to 650 nm, paving the way for hBN SPEs with tailored emission properties. Additionally, rational control over the observed SPE density in the resulting films is demonstrated. The ability to control defect formation during hBN growth provides a cost effective means to improve the crystallinity of CVD hBN films, and lower defect density making it applicable to hBN growth for a wide-range of applications. The results are important to understand defect formation of quantum emitters in hBN and deploy them for scalable photonic technologies.