Abstract
The formation and evolution of silicene on ultrathin Au films have been investigated with low energy electron microscopy and diffraction. Careful control of the annealing rate and temperature of Au films epitaxially grown on the Si(111) surface allows for the preparation of a large scale, of the order of cm2, silicene sheets. Depending on the final temperature, three stages of silicene evolution can be distinguished: (i) the growth of the low buckled phase, (ii) the formation of a layered heterostructure of the low buckled and planar phases of silicene and (iii) the gradual destruction of the silicene. Each stage is characterized by its unique surface morphology and characteristic diffraction patterns. The present study gives an overview of structures formed on the surface of ultrathin Au films and morphology changes between room temperature and the temperature at which the formation of Au droplets on the Si(111) surface occurs.
Highlights
Much of the modern research related to condensed matter concerns ultrathin layered systems, which possess unique and unexpected, but often very desired, properties unknown for bulk materials
All experiments have been performed in a Low Energy Electron Microscope (LEEM)
The thermally induced changes of the crystallographic structure and surface morphology of ultrathin Au layers grown at room temperature (RT) on the Si(111) surface were investigated by means of the low energy electron microscopy and low energy electron diffraction techniques
Summary
Much of the modern research related to condensed matter concerns ultrathin layered systems, which possess unique and unexpected, but often very desired, properties unknown for bulk materials. Tailor-made two-dimensional (2D) materials constitute a interesting group of systems that can be used as building blocks in nanotechnology. A specific section of the 2D’s consists of a rapidly expanding family of materials composed of only one element of group 13–16 of the periodic table. We know of (P, Ge, Sn, B, As, Sb, Bi, Te, Se, Ga, Pb)-based Xenes—a unique subclass of artificial 2D materials [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23]
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