One-Dimensional Corrugation of the h-BN Monolayer on Fe(110)

We report on a new nanopatterned structure represented by a single atomic layer of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) forming long periodic waves on the Fe(110) surface. The growth process and the structure of this system are characterized by X-ray absorption (XAS), core-level photoemission spectroscopy (CL PES), low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM), microbeam low-energy electron diffraction (μLEED), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The h-BN monolayer on Fe(110) is periodically corrugated in a wavy fashion with an astonishing degree of long-range order, periodicity of 2.6 nm, and the corrugation amplitude of ∼0.8 Å. The wavy pattern results from a strong chemical bonding between h-BN and Fe in combination with a lattice mismatch in either [111] or [111] direction of the Fe(110) surface. Two primary orientations of h-BN on Fe(110) can be observed corresponding to the possible directions of lattice match between h-BN and Fe(110), with approximately equal area of the boron nitride domains of each orientation.