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Jun 24, 2025

Multilayer 2D insulator shows promise for post-silicon electronics

Soo Ho Choi is in the Center for Integrated Nanostructure Physics and the Institute for Basic Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, South Korea. Search author on: PubMed Google Scholar Soo

Soo Ho Choi is in the Center for Integrated Nanostructure Physics and the Institute for Basic Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, South Korea.

Search author on: PubMed Google Scholar

Soo Min Kim is in the Department of Chemistry, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul 14072, South Korea.

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As the electronics industry looks beyond silicon as its material of choice, many 2D materials are being investigated as candidates for the next generation of transparent and stretchable devices1,2. The electrical insulator hexagonal boron nitride is a popular choice as a substrate for transistors in these devices, because thin films of the material are transparent and stable — both mechanically and chemically. But obtaining 2D hexagonal boron nitride samples that have a uniform crystal-lattice structure (in other words, a single crystal) is challenging. And building them into multilayered structures that are compatible with common industry practices is even more difficult. Writing in Nature, Ma et al.3 report the synthesis of five stacked layers of single-crystal hexagonal boron nitride using a technique called chemical-vapour deposition.

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Nature 606, 37-38 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01476-7

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Ma, K. Y. et al. Nature 606, 88–93 (2022).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Read the paper: Epitaxial single-crystal hexagonal boron nitride multilayers on Ni (111)

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