Emergent Dirac Fermions in Epitaxial Planar Silicene Heterostructure.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38181506.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c04046 and PMC identifier 10885205.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Silicene, a single layer of Si atoms, shares many remarkable electronic properties with graphene. So far, silicene has been synthesized in its epitaxial form on a few surfaces of solids. Thus, the problem of silicene-substrate interaction appears, which usually depresses the original electronic behavior but may trigger properties superior to those of bare components. We report the direct observation of robust Dirac-dispersed bands in epitaxial silicene grown on Au(111) films deposited on Si(111). By performing in-depth angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements, we reveal three pairs of one-dimensional bands with linear dispersion running in three different directions of an otherwise two-dimensional system. By combining these results with first-principles calculations, we explore the nature of these bands and point to strong interaction between subsystems forming a complex Si-Au heterostructure. These findings emphasize the essential role of interfacial coupling and open a unique materials platform for exploring exotic quantum phenomena and applications in future-generation nanoelectronics.