Strain and doping effects on the antiferromagnetism of AB-stacked bilayer silicene

Abstract

We have investigated the effects of biaxial strain and charge doping on the antiferromagnetic order of AB-stacked bilayer silicene by using the density functional theory calculations. The antiferromagnetic order, which decreases and disappears with compressive strain and charge doping, increases with tensile strain and undergoes a metal–insulator–metal transition. Increased lattice constant increases the overlap between the conduction and valence bands and the density of states at the Fermi level, which are responsible for the antiferromagnetic order.