Atomically Thin Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanofilm for Cu Protection: The Importance of Film Perfection

Protection at the nanoscale

25 September 2017

An international team of scientists have developed an atomically thin coating that could protect metals used in nanoelectronics devices from corrosion, according to a report published in Advanced Materials.

Thick polymer coatings like polyurethane and silicone are commonly used in electronics to protect metallic surfaces, but protecting devices built at the nanoscale, where space is extremely limited, requires a coating that is ultrathin yet still prevents corrosion.

By coating copper with a high-quality, single-atom film of hexagonal boron nitride, a two-dimensional material made from layers of boron and nitrogen atoms, researchers from China, Japan and the University of Wollongong in Australia, have developed an ultrathin coating with outstanding anti-corrosion properties.

The team found that it was not the coating thickness, but its quality, that determined its ability to resist corrosion. This could lead to atomically thin anti-corrosion coatings for next-generation nanotechnologies.

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References

1. Adv. Mater. 29, 1603937 (2017). doi: 10.1002/adma.201603937