  Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a promising material for implementation in
spintronics due to a large band gap, low spin-orbit coupling, and a small
lattice mismatch to graphene and to close-packed surfaces of fcc-Ni(111) and
hcp-Co(0001). Epitaxial deposition of h-BN on ferromagnetic metals is aimed at
small interface scattering of charge and spin carriers. We report on the
controlled growth of h-BN/Ni(111) by means of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).
Structural and electronic properties of this system are investigated using
cross-section transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron
spectroscopies which confirm good agreement with the properties of bulk h-BN.
The latter are also corroborated by density functional theory (DFT)
calculations, revealing that the first h-BN layer at the interface to Ni is
metallic. Our investigations demonstrate that MBE is a promising, versatile
alternative to both the exfoliation approach and chemical vapour deposition of
h-BN.
