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Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a promising material for next-generation electronics due to its unique optoelectronic and electronic properties. While the synthesis of h-BN on metallic substrates has been studied extensively, h-BN synthesis on CMOS-compatible substrates like Ge has not. Here, we report the growth of h-BN on Ge(001) from borazine via high-vacuum chemical vapor deposition. We find that the sublimation of Ge under high vacuum inhibits h-BN growth. To overcome this challenge, we place two Ge substrates face-to-face and achieve the growth of aligned h-BN islands and monolayer h-BN films. 

The directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) can be used to produce nanoscale patterns without the cost and process complexity of state-of-the-art optical lithography. Thus, DSA may be useful in a wide variety of semiconductor applications such as fin field-effect transistors and biosensors. To create technologically useful patterns with aligned BCP domains, conventional DSA mechanisms often rely on topographically complex structures or high-resolution chemical patterns to direct the self-assembly, that are difficult to fabricate. In comparison, a newly discovered mechanism for DSA, termed boundary-directed epitaxy (BDE), utilizes chemical contrast at the boundaries between a substrate and relatively wide chemical stripe. Here, we demonstrate the use of BDE to template the fabrication of sub-10 nm features for the first time. BDE is used in conjunction with selective infiltration to create ultranarrow line-space arrays of alumina. These results demonstrate a proof-of-concept for BDE as a method for ultrahigh-resolution feature formation.