Electronic structure of a (3×3)-ordered silicon layer on Al(111)

Abstract

Electronic structure of the 3x3 ordered-phase of a silicon (Si) layer on Al(111) has been studied by angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) technique using synchrotron radiation and modeled by a trial atomic model. A closed Fermi surface originating from liniarly dispersing band is identified. A band structure calculation of a trial atomic model of the honeycomb silicene on Al(111) implies that the metallic band originates from the Al-Si hybrid state that has the Dirac cone-like dispersion curves. The Si layer on Al( 111) can be a model system of Xene to realize the massless electronic system through the overlayer-substrate interaction.

Direct Growth of Germanene at Interfaces between Van der Waals Materials and Ag(111)

“…Xenes have been grown on various crystal surfaces. Germanene has been grown on Ag(111), [ 11 ] Au(111), [ 2,12 ] Cu(111), [ 13 ] Al(111), [ 14 ] Pt(111), [ 15 ] graphite, [ 16 ] and MoS 2 , [ 17 ] and silicene has been grown on Ag(111), [ 1a,b ] Ag(110), [ 18 ] Al(111), [ 19 ] Ir(111), [ 20 ] ZrB 2 (0001), [ 21 ] and ZrC(111). [ 22 ] A limited number of reports of stanene growth on Ag(111) [ 3b ] and Cu(111), [ 3a ] as well as one report of plumbene growth on a Pd 1− x Pb x (111) alloy film on Pd(111), [ 4a ] are available.…”

Epitaxial growth and structural properties of silicene and other 2D allotropes of Si

“…Indeed, aer deposition in the 300-350 K temperature range, a (3 × 3) reconstruction forms at the surface, which has been attributed to a silicene overlayer. 24,35 STM observations have indicated that the layer grows from the step edges, which become facetted aer Si deposition. 24 Moreover, the silicene layer appears at the same level as the Al surface, which may indicate a growth mechanism in which substrate atoms are progressively replaced with Si atoms, as observed for Si/Ag (111) growth.…”

“…The results were interpreted with a model of a (2 × 2) silicene reconstruction. 35 4.1.2 Silicene/Au. Growth of silicene has been tempted on Au surfaces, with contradictory results.…”

“…Hybridization between silicene and metallic surfaces, which are most commonly used as substrates for silicene synthesis in current experiments, has been reported both theoretically and experimentally, questioning whether silicene maintains its Dirac fermion character, similar to graphene, on a supporting substrate. 11,13,14,35,63,71,213 Electronic decoupling from the underlying substrate is thus demanding prior to the incorporation of silicene into devices. Such decoupling can be achieved through the formation of a buffer layer, chemical intercalation leading to possible exfoliation of epitaxial silicene from the underlying substrate or etching of the latter.…”