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Silicon Nanosheets - Crossover between Multilayer Silicene and Diamond-like Growth Regime

MetadataDetails
Publication Date2017-03-06
JournalACS Nano
AuthorsCarlo Grazianetti, Eugenio Cinquanta, Li Tao, Paola De Padova, C. Quaresima
InstitutionsThe University of Texas at Austin, Institute of Structure of Matter
Citations75

The structural and electronic properties of nanoscale Si epitaxially grown on Ag(111) can be tuned from a multilayer silicene phase, where the constitutive layers incorporate a mixed sp<sup>2</sup>/sp<sup>3</sup> bonding, to other ordinary Si phases, such as amorphous and diamond-like Si. Based on comparative scanning tunneling microscopy and Raman spectroscopy investigations, a key role in determining the nanoscale Si phase is played by the growth temperature of the epitaxial deposition on Ag(111) substrate and the presence or absence of a single-layer silicene as a seed for the successive growth. Furthermore, when integrated into a field-effect transistor device, multilayer silicene exhibits a characteristic ambipolar charge carrier transport behavior that makes it strikingly different from other conventional Si channels and suggestive of a Dirac-like character of the electronic bands of the crystal. These findings spotlight the interest in multilayer silicene as a different nanoscale Si phase for advanced nanotechnology applications such as ultrascaled nanoelectronics and nanomembranes, as well as for fundamental exploration of quantum properties.

  1. 2016 - Silicon Nanomembranes [Crossref]