Experimental investigation of two-dimensional plasmons in aDySi2monolayer on Si(111)

Abstract

${\text{DySi}}_{2}$ monolayers were prepared by thermal evaporation of Dy at room temperature followed by annealing to $500\text{ }\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}\text{C}$ on Si(111), which yields a perfect $(1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1)$ low-energy electron diffraction pattern. These monolayers of ${\text{DySi}}_{2}$ were investigated by electron energy loss spectroscopy with both high energy and momentum resolution. A low-energy acoustic-like dispersion was found with very small anisotropy in reciprocal space, consistent with the characteristic losses due to a two-dimensional plasmon in the hexagonal monolayer structure of ${\text{DySi}}_{2}$, and effective hole densities of ${N}_{2d}=4.1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{13}\text{ }{\text{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ with an effective mass of ${m}^{\ensuremath{\ast}}=0.37{m}_{e}$. Deviations of the expected dispersion due to single-particle excitations in the Si substrate were found above ${q}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}=0.08\text{ }{\text{\AA{}}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. On (111) facets with terrace widths of 12 lattice constants, these properties change little along the terraces, but no plasmon wave propagation across step edges is possible, leading to strong suppression of characteristic loss signals in the direction normal to the steps.