Thickness determination of few-layer hexagonal boron nitride films by scanning electron microscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy

Authors

P. Sutter, Brookhaven National LaboratoryFollow
E. Sutter, Brookhaven National LaboratoryFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

7-16-2014

Citation

092502-2 P. Sutter and E. Sutter APL Mater. 2, 092502 (2014) Pages 1-8

Comments

© 2014 Author(s).

Abstract

We assess scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) for thickness measurements on few-layer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), the layered dielectric of choice for integration with graphene and other two-dimensional materials. Observations on h-BN islands with large, atomically flat terraces show that the secondary electron intensity in SEM reflects monolayer height changes in films up to least 10 atomic layers thickness. From a quantitative analysis of AES data, the energy-dependent electron escape depth in h-BN films is deduced. The results show that AES is suitable for absolute thickness measurements of few-layer h-BN of 1 to 6 layers.