Growth mechanism on graphene-regulated high-quality epitaxy of flexible AlN film

Flexible aluminium nitride (AlN) films can enable the future preparation of carbon-based nitride devices. We report a novel diffusion–adsorption regulation growth method in the epitaxy of AlN on graphene for high-quality and transferable large-size AlN films. Then, the growth mode of AlN on graphene is summarized in turn as diffusion-dominated, combined-effect, adsorption-dominated and decomposition-dominated. A high-quality and transferable AlN epitaxial layer was obtained by regulating the combination of graphene and AlN. Finally, a flexible 3 × 3 cm2 AlN film with an RMS of 0.748 nm was achieved. The proposed growth mechanism fills the gap in the study of the growth mechanism of AlN on graphene, and will help to explore new methods for the preparation of carbon-based nitride devices based on van der Waals epitaxy-transfer printing, realize substrate selection that does not rely on epitaxial relationships, and provide a revolutionary technology for the development of high-efficiency flexible devices.