Electronic and structural properties of epitaxial silicene on h-BN-terminated ZrB$_{\mathrm{2}}$

ORAL

Abstract

Silicene is a two-dimensional (2D) material consisting of an atomically buckled honeycomb lattice of Si atoms. Its attractive predicted properties include an electrically tunable bandgap and the quantum spin Hall effect. Free-standing silicene has not been synthesized to date, but epitaxial silicene layers have been reported on a number of metallic substrates, amongst which ZrB$_{\mathrm{2}}$(0001) thin films on Si(111) [1]. These substrates have a non-negligible effect on the electronic properties of the silicene due to hybridization effects. We have investigated epitaxial silicene on ZrB$_{\mathrm{2}}$(0001) surfaces terminated with an insulating, epitaxial h-BN monolayer [2]. I will discuss the electronic and structural properties of such silicene layers, based on synchrotron-based (angle-resolved) photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy studies. [1] A. Fleurence, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 245501 (2012) [2] K. Aoyagi, et al., to be submitted.

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Authors

  • Frank Wiggers

    • MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

  • Antoine Fleurence

    • School of Materials Science, JAIST, Japan
    • Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, School of Materials Science, Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan
    • Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technologies

  • Kohei Aoyagi

    • Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, School of Materials Science, Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan

  • Takahiro Yonezawa

    • Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, School of Materials Science, Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan

  • Yukiko Yamada-Takamura

    • School of Materials Science, JAIST, Japan
    • Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, School of Materials Science, Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan
    • Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technologies

  • Haifeng Feng

    • Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2525, Australia

  • Jincheng Zhuang

    • Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2525, Australia

  • Yi Du

    • Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2525, Australia

  • Alexey Kovalgin

    • MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

  • Michel de Jong

    • MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands