Effect of nucleation sites on the growth and quality of single-crystal boron arsenide

Boron arsenide (BAs) has recently attracted significant attention since the confirmation of its unusually high thermal conductivity (kappa) above 1000 W m(-1 )K(-1). However, determining how to grow BAs single crystals (SCs) on the centimeter scale remains unsolved, which strongly limits further research into, and potential applications of, this interesting material. Here, we report our technique to grow a 7-mm-long BAs SC via the chemical vapor transport method by applying heteronucleation sites. The different kappa values obtained from BAs SCs grown on different heteronucleation sites show the importance of choosing the proper nucleation material. We believe these findings will inspire further research into the growth of this unique semiconductor. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.