Growth and Etching of Centimeter-Scale Self-Assembly Graphene–h-BN Super-Ordered Arrays: Implications for Integrated Electronic Devices

The highly integrated miniature electronic and photonic components have been extensively studied because they exhibit a significant potential in producing scaled circuits with high performance. Inspired by the spontaneous organization of molecular units into ordered structures, we demonstrate for the first time a controllable fabrication of super-ordered graphene–hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) planar heterostructure arrays on a liquid Cu surface by a chemical vapor deposition method. The area of graphene and h-BN arrays can reach up to 1 cm2 with a prominent uniformity in morphology and orientation. The size and density of the arrays can be precisely tailored by modulating the composition ratio of the CH4/H2. The electrostatic force among the heterostructure units and the fluidity of the liquid metal surface are accounted for the formation of the super-ordered arrays. Moreover, selective etching of h-BN in the heterostructure is also achieved, offering a direct top-down approach for the construction of ordered 2D patterns. The construction and etching of large-scale super-ordered 2D heterostructure arrays paves the way toward scaled integrated devices.