Optically detected magnetic resonance of wafer-scale hexagonal boron nitride thin films

Abstract Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has recently been shown to host native defects exhibiting optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) with applications in nanoscale magnetic sensing and imaging. To advance these applications, deposition methods to create wafer-scale hBN films with controlled thicknesses are desirable, but a systematic study of the ODMR properties of the resultant films is lacking. Here we perform ODMR measurements of thin films (3–2000 nm thick) grown via three different methods: metal–organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD), CVD, and molecular beam epitaxy. We find that they all exhibit an ODMR response, including the thinnest 3 nm film, albeit with different characteristics. The best volume-normalized magnetic sensitivity obtained is 30 µ T Hz <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> m <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . We study the effect of growth temperature on a series of MOCVD samples grown under otherwise fixed conditions and find 800 ∘ C–900 ∘ C to be an optimum range for magnetic sensitivity, with a significant improvement (up to two orders of magnitude) from post-growth annealing. This work provides a useful baseline for the magnetic sensitivity of hBN thin films deposited via standard methods and informs the feasibility of future sensing applications.