Defect Engineering in Large‐Scale CVD‐Grown Hexagonal Boron Nitride: Formation, Spectroscopy, and Spin Relaxation Dynamics

Recently, numerous techniques have been reported for generating optically active defects in exfoliated hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), which hold transformative potential for quantum photonic devices. However, achieving on-demand generation of desirable defect types in scalable hBN films remains a significant challenge. Here, it is demonstrated that formation of negative boron vacancy defects, V<sub>B</sub> <sup>-</sup>, in suspended, large-area CVD-grown hBN is strongly dependent on the type of bombarding particles (ions, neutrons, and electrons) and irradiation conditions. In contrast to suspended hBN, defect formation in substrate-supported hBN is more complex due to the uncontrollable generation of secondary particles from the substrate, and the outcome strongly depends on the thickness of the hBN. Different defect types are identified by correlating spectroscopic and optically detected magnetic resonance features, distinguishing boron vacancies (formed by light ions and neutrons and emitting at 800 nm) from other optically active defects emitting at 650 nm assigned to anti-site nitrogen vacancy (N<sub>B</sub>V<sub>N</sub>) and reveal the presence of additional "dark" paramagnetic defects that influence spin-lattice relaxation time (T<sub>1</sub>) and zero-field splitting parameters, all of which strongly depend on the defect density. These results underscore the potential for precisely engineered defect formation in large-scale CVD-grown hBN, paving the way for the scalable fabrication of quantum photonic devices.

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Small
Published
2025-10-31
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202506874
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Graphene research and applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.52

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Defect Engineering in Large‐Scale CVD‐Grown Hexagonal Boron Nitride: Formation, Spectroscopy, and Spin Relaxation Dynamics

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1 citations
Small
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Defect Engineering in Large‐Scale CVD‐Grown Hexagonal Boron Nitride: Formation, Spectroscopy, and Spin Relaxation Dynamics

Ondrej Dyck, Sujoy Ghosh, Benjamin J. Lawrie, Huan Zhao, Ivan Vlassiouk, Steven Randolph, Kai Xiao, Bogdan Dryzhakov, Nickolay V. Lavrik, David Glasgow, Alexander A. Puretzky, Liam Collins, Harry M. Meyer, Alexander Tselev, Martí Checa, John Lasseter, Andrew R. Lupini, Yueh‐Chun Wu, Liangbo Liang, Farzana Hasan Likhi, Ilia N. Ivanov, Sergei Smirnov, Ian Gallagher
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Recently, numerous techniques have been reported for generating optically active defects in exfoliated hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), which hold transformative potential for quantum photonic devices. However, achieving on-demand generation of desirable defect types in scalable hBN films remains a significant challenge. Here, it is demonstrated that formation of negative boron vacancy defects, V<sub>B</sub> <sup>-</sup>, in suspended, large-area CVD-grown hBN is strongly dependent on the type of bombarding particles (ions, neutrons, and electrons) and irradiation conditions. In contrast to suspended hBN, defect formation in substrate-supported hBN is more complex due to the uncontrollable generation of secondary particles from the substrate, and the outcome strongly depends on the thickness of the hBN. Different defect types are identified by correlating spectroscopic and optically detected magnetic resonance features, distinguishing boron vacancies (formed by light ions and neutrons and emitting at 800 nm) from other optically active defects emitting at 650 nm assigned to anti-site nitrogen vacancy (N<sub>B</sub>V<sub>N</sub>) and reveal the presence of additional "dark" paramagnetic defects that influence spin-lattice relaxation time (T<sub>1</sub>) and zero-field splitting parameters, all of which strongly depend on the defect density. These results underscore the potential for precisely engineered defect formation in large-scale CVD-grown hBN, paving the way for the scalable fabrication of quantum photonic devices.

SmallVol. 22(8)
New Mexico State University (US), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US), University of Houston (US), University of Aveiro (PT)
U.S. Department of Energy, Universidade de Aveiro, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior, Office of Science, Centro de Investigação em Materiais Cerâmicos e Compósitos, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Basic Energy Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Openalex Percentile: Top 31%
Graphene research and applications
0.52
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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