Hexagonal boron nitride has already been proven to serve as a decent
substrate for high quality epitaxial growth of several 2D materials, such as
graphene, MoSe2, MoS2 or
WSe2. Here, we present for the first time the molecular
beam epitaxy growth of MoTe2 on atomically smooth
hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) substrate. Occurrence of
MoTe2 in various crystalline phases such as distorted
octahedral 1T' phase with semimetal properties or hexagonal 2H phase with
semiconducting properties opens a possibility of realisation of crystal-phase
homostructures with tunable properties. Atomic force microscopy studies of
MoTe2 grown in a single monolayer regime enable us to
determine surface morphology as a function of the growth conditions. The
diffusion constant of MoTe2 grown on hBN can be altered 5
times by annealing after the growth, reaching about 5 ⋅ 10−6
cm2/s. Raman spectroscopy results suggest a coexistence of both 2H and 1T'
MoTe2 phases in the studied samples.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure