Metallic atomically-thin layered silicon epitaxially grown on silicene/ZrB ₂

Abstract

We observe a new two-dimensional (2D) silicon crystal, using low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and it's formed by depositing additional Si atoms onto spontaneously-formed epitaxial silicene on a ZrB<sub>2</sub> thin film. From scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS) studies, we find that this atomically-thin layered silicon has distinctly different electronic properties. Angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) reveals that, in sharp contrast to epitaxial silicene, the layered silicon exhibits significantly enhanced density of states at the Fermi level resulting from newly formed metallic bands. Furthermore, the 2D growth of this material could allow for direct contacting to the silicene surface and demonstrates the dramatic changes in electronic structure that can occur by the addition of even a single monolayer amount of material in 2D systems.