Two-dimensional materials are one of the most active areas of nanomaterials research. Here we report the structural stability, electronic and vibrational properties of different monolayer configurations of the group IV elemental materials silicene and germanene. The structure of the stable configuration is calculated and for planar and low (<1 Å) atomic buckling configurations, analysis of the electronic band structure reveals linear band dispersion giving rise to massless Dirac fermions with a Fermi velocity about two-thirds that of graphene.Monolayer stability is shown to be directly attributed to the phonons present with the instability being driven by the out-of-plane ZA and ZO phonon modes. Long momentum relaxation lengths and high carrier mobilities are predicted for silicene and germanene based devices as carrier relaxation via phonon scattering is found to be inhibited as the electron -optical phonon coupling matrix elements are calculated to be small, being about a factor of 25 times smaller than in graphene. The consequences for phonon scattering, high energy electrical transport and integration of elemental monolayers into electronic devices are further discussed.

The mechanisms controlling the nanostructuring of thin metal-on-oxide films by nanosecond pulsed excimer lasers are investigated. When permitted by the interfacial energetics, the breakup of the metal film into nanoscale islands is observed. A range of metals ͑Au, Ag, Mo, Ni, Ti, and Zn͒ with differing physical and thermodynamic properties, and differing tendencies for oxide formation, are investigated. The nature of the interfacial metal-substrate interaction, the thermal conductivity of the substrate, and the initial thickness of the metal film are all shown to be of importance when discussing the mechanism for nanoscale island formation under high fluence irradiation. It is postulated that the resulting nanoparticle size distribution is influenced by the surface roughness of the initial film and the Rayleigh instability criterion. The results obtained are compared with simulations of the heat transfer through the film in order to further elucidate the mechanisms. The results are expected to be applicable to the laser induced melting of a large range of different materials, where poor wetting of substrate by the liquid phase is observed.

The ability to induce an energy band gap in bilayer graphene is an important development in graphene science and opens up potential applications in electronics and photonics. Here we report the emergence of permanent electronic and optical band gaps in bilayer graphene upon adsorption of  electron containing molecules. Adsorption of n-or p-type dopant molecules on one layer results in an asymmetric charge distribution between the top and bottom layers and in the formation of an energy gap. The resultant band gap scales linearly with induced carrier density though a slight asymmetry is found between n-type dopants, where the band gap varies as 47 meV/10 13 cm -2 , and p-type dopants where it varies as 40 meV/10 13 cm -2 .Decamethylcobaltocene (DMC, n-type) and 3,6-difluoro-2,5,7,7,8,8-hexacyano-quinodimethane (F2-HCNQ, p-type) are found to be the best molecules at inducing the largest electronic band gaps up to 0.15 eV. Optical adsorption transitions in the 2.8 -4 m region of the spectrum can result between states that are not Pauli blocked. Comparison is made between the band gaps calculated from adsorbate-induced electric fields and from average displacement fields found in dual gate bilayer graphene devices. A key advantage of using molecular adsorption with  electron containing molecules is the high binding energy can induce a permanent band gap and

We have studied the effect of erbium-impurity interactions on the 1.54 μm luminescence of Er3+ in crystalline Si. Float-zone and Czochralski-grown (100) oriented Si wafers were implanted with Er at a total dose of ∼1×1015/cm2. Some samples were also coimplanted with O, C, and F to realize uniform concentrations (up to 1020/cm3) of these impurities in the Er-doped region. Samples were analyzed by photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) was also performed on p-n diodes implanted with Er at a dose of 6×1011/cm2 and codoped with impurities at a constant concentration of 1×1018/cm3. It was found that impurity codoping reduces the temperature quenching of the PL yield and that this reduction is more marked when the impurity concentration is increased. An EPR spectrum of sharp, anisotropic, lines is obtained for the sample codoped with 1020 O/cm3 but no clear EPR signal is observed without this codoping. The spectrum for the magnetic field B parallel to the [100] direction is similar to that expected for Er3+ in an approximately octahedral crystal field. DLTS analyses confirmed the formation of new Er3+ sites in the presence of the codoping impurities. In particular, a reduction in the density of the deepest levels has been observed and an impurity+Er-related level at ∼0.15 eV below the conduction band has been identified. This level is present in Er+O-, Er+F-, and Er+C-doped Si samples while it is not observed in samples solely doped with Er or with the codoping impurity only. We suggest that this new level causes efficient excitation of Er through the recombination of e-h pairs bound to this level. Temperature quenching is ascribed to the thermalization of bound electrons to the conduction band. We show that the attainment of well-defined impurity-related luminescent Er centers is responsible for both the luminescence enhancement at low temperatures and for the reduction of the temperature quenching of the luminescence. A quantitative model for the excitation and deexcitation processes of Er in Si is also proposed and shows good agreement with the experimental results.

Erratum: Ab initio investigation of molecular hydrogen physisorption on graphene and carbon nanotubes [Phys. Rev. B 75, 245413 (2007)]