Advancing quasi-freestanding epitaxial graphene electronics through integration of wafer scale hexagonal boron nitride dielectrics

A key limitation to graphene based electronics is graphene's interaction with dielectric interfaces. SiO₂ and various high-k gate dielectrics can introduce scattering from charged surface states, impurities, and surface optical phonons; degrading the transport properties of graphene. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) exhibits an atomically smooth surface that is expected to be free of dangling bonds, leading to an interface that is relatively free of surface charge traps and adsorbed impurities. Additionally, the decreased surface optical phonon interaction from h-BN is expected to further reduce scattering. While h-BN gated graphene FETs have been demonstrated on a small scale utilizing CVD grown or exfoliated graphene, integrating quasi-freestanding epitaxial graphene (QFEG) with h-BN gate dielectrics on a wafer scale has not been explored. We present results from the first large scale CVD growth of h-BN and its subsequent transfer to a 75mm QFEG wafer. The effects of growth conditions on the thickness and quality of the h-BN film and its potential and limitations as a gate dielectric to QFEG are discussed. The introduction of charged impurities during the transfer process resulted in an average degradation in mobility of only 9%. Despite the slight degradation, we show that h-BN is highly beneficial compared to high-k dielectrics when the charged impurity concentration of QFEG is below 5×10¹²cm^-2. Here we show improvements in mobility of >3× and intrinsic cutoff frequency of >2× compared to HfO₂.