Large-area synthesis and transfer of multilayer hexagonal boron nitride for enhanced graphene device arrays

Multilayer hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) can be used to preserve the intrinsic physical properties of other two-dimensional materials in device structures. However, integrating the material into large-scale two-dimensional heterostructures remains challenging due to the difficulties in synthesizing high-quality large-area multilayer hBN and combining it with other two-dimensional material layers of the same scale. Here we show that centimetre-scale multilayer hBN can be synthesized on iron–nickel alloy foil by chemical vapour deposition, and then used as a substrate and as a surface-protecting layer in graphene field-effect transistors. We also develop an integrated electrochemical transfer and thermal treatment method that allows us to create high-performance graphene/hBN heterostacks. Arrays of graphene field-effect transistors fabricated by conventional and scalable methods show an enhancement in room-temperature carrier mobility when hBN is used as an insulating substrate, and a further increase—up to a value of 10,000 cm2 V−1 s−1—when graphene is encapsulated with another hBN sheet.