Well-ordered nanomeshes are grown by thermal decomposition of borazine (HBNH)₃, a colorless substance that is liquid at room temperature (see molecule). The Nanomesh results after exposing the atomically clean Rh (111) surface to borazine by chemical vapor deposition (CVD).

The Rh (111) substrate is kept at a temperature of 796°C (1070 K) when borazine is introduced in the vacuum chamber at a dose of about 40 L (1 Langmuir = 10^-6 torr sec). A typical borazine vapor pressure inside the ultrahigh vacuum chamber during the exposure is 3x10^-7 mbar. After cooling down to room temperature, the regular mesh structure is observed in STM images.

Different complementary experimental techniques are used to study the boron nitride Nanomesh on Rh (111): Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) allows to take a direct look on the local real space structure of the surface, while low energy electron diffraction (LEED) (more details) patterns are formed by surface structures ordered over a macroscopic sample area. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) gives information about the electronic states in the outermost atomic layers of a sample, while X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) allows to get information about the electronic states of the innermost atomic layers.

Zurich's experimental setup is shown, where it is possible to perform photoemission, LEED and STM measurements on the very same sample surface under UHV.