Ultrathin (sub-monolayer to 12 monolayers) AlN nanosheets are grown epitaxially by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy on Ag(111) single crystals. Electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy provide evidence that AlN on Ag adopts a graphite-like hexagonal structure with a larger lattice constant compared to bulk-like wurtzite AlN. This claim is further supported by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy indicating a reduced energy bandgap as expected for hexagonal AlN.

Atomically-thin, inherently 2D semiconductors offer thickness scaling of nanoelectronic devices and excellent response to light for low-power versatile applications. Using small exfoliated flakes, advanced devices and integrated circuits have already been realized, showing great potential to impact nanoelectronics. Here, high-quality single-crystal MoSe2 is grown by molecular beam epitaxy on AlN(0001)/Si(111), showing the potential for scaling up growth to low-cost, large-area substrates for mass production. The MoSe2 layers are epitaxially aligned with the aluminum nitride (AlN) lattice, showing a uniform, smooth surface and interfaces with no reaction or intermixing, and with sufficiently high band offsets. High-quality single-layer MoSe2 is obtained, with a direct gap evidenced by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and further confirmed by Raman and intense room temperature photoluminescence. The successful growth of high-quality MoSe2/Bi2Se3 multilayers on AlN shows promise for novel devices exploiting the non-trivial topological properties of Bi2Se3.

Using molecular beam epitaxy, atomically thin 2D semiconductor HfSe2 and MoSe2/HfSe2 van der Waals heterostructures are grown on AlN(0001)/Si(111) substrates. Details of the electronic band structure of HfSe2 are imaged by in-situ angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy indicating a high quality epitaxial layer. High-resolution surface tunneling microscopy supported by first principles calculations provides evidence of an ordered Se adlayer, which may be responsible for a reduction of the measured workfunction of HfSe2 compared to theoretical predictions. The latter reduction minimizes the workfunction difference between the HfSe2 and MoSe2 layers resulting in a small valence band offset of only 0.13 eV at the MoSe2/HfSe2 heterointerface and a weak type II band alignment.

van der Waals heterostructures of 2D semiconductor materials can be used to realize a number of (opto)electronic devices including tunneling field effect devices (TFETs). It is shown in this work that high quality SnSe2/WSe2 vdW heterostructure can be grown by molecular beam epitaxy on AlN(0001)/Si(111) substrates using a Bi2Se3 buffer layer. A valence band offset of 0.8 eV matches the energy gap of SnSe2 in such a way that the VB edge of WSe2 and the CB edge of SnSe2 are lined up, making this materials combination suitable for (nearly) broken gap TFETs.

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