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Exploring Two-Dimensional Silicon with Soft X-ray Spectroscopy
N.W. Johnson, E.Z. Kurmaev, G. Le Lay, A. Moewes
University of Saskatchewan, CA
Keywords: silicene, 2D materials, spectroscopy
Summary:
Silicene, the silicon-based analogue to graphene, has been the subject of intense research since monolayers of honeycomb Si were first synthesized on the Ag(111) face. Since then, there has been a strong push to characterize this epitaxial silicene in order to compare its characteristics to the graphene-like properties predicted for freestanding silicene. We will discuss the role that soft X-ray emission and absorption spectroscopy have played in clarifying the electronic structure of epitaxial silicene monolayers. The elemental specificity of these techniques allow for an unambiguous characterization of the Si/Ag hybridization that causes the Si epilayer to inherit the metallic nature of its host. We will also describe our current work characterizing epitaxial silicene multilayers on Ag(111), and discuss generally the application of soft X-ray spectroscopy to other nanostructured systems.
