No Arabic abstract
Stanene (single-layer grey tin), with an electronic structure akin to that of graphene but exhibiting a much larger spin-orbit gap, offers a promising platform for room-temperature electronics based on the quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect. This material has received much theoretical attention, but a suitable substrate for stanene growth that results in an overall gapped electronic structure has been elusive; a sizable gap is necessary for room-temperature applications. Here, we report a study of stanene epitaxially grown on the (111)B-face of indium antimonide (InSb). Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements reveal a gap of 0.44 eV, in agreement with our first-principles calculations. The results indicate that stanene on InSb(111) is a strong contender for electronic QSH applications.
We review progress in developing epitaxial graphene as a material for carbon electronics. In particular, improvements in epitaxial graphene growth, interface control and the understanding of multilayer epitaxial graphenes electronic properties are discussed. Although graphene grown on both polar faces of SiC is addressed, our discussions will focus on graphene grown on the (000-1) C-face of SiC. The unique properties of C-face multilayer epitaxial graphene have become apparent. These films behave electronically like a stack of nearly independent graphene sheets rather than a thin Bernal-stacked graphite sample. The origin of multilayer graphenes electronic behavior is its unique highly-ordered stacking of non-Bernal rotated graphene planes. While these rotations do not significantly affect the inter-layer interactions, they do break the stacking symmetry of graphite. It is this broken symmetry that causes each sheet to behave like an isolated graphene plane.
Ultrathin semiconductors present various novel electronic properties. The first experimental realized two-dimensional (2D) material is graphene. Searching 2D materials with heavy elements bring the attention to Si, Ge and Sn. 2D buckled Si-based silicene was realized by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth1,2. Ge-based germanene was realized by mechanical exfoliation3. Sn-based stanene has its unique properties. Stanene and its derivatives can be 2D topological insulators (TI) with a very large band gap as proposed by first-principles calculations4, or can support enhanced thermoelectric performance5, topological superconductivity6 and the near-room-temperature quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect7. For the first time, in this work, we report a successful fabrication of 2D stanene by MBE. The atomic and electronic structures were determined by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) in combination with first-principles calculations. This work will stimulate the experimental study and exploring the future application of stanene.
We report that the {pi}-electrons of graphene can be spin-polarized to create a phase with a significant spin-orbit gap at the Dirac point (DP) using a graphene-interfaced topological insulator hybrid material. We have grown epitaxial Bi2Te2Se (BTS) films on a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) graphene. We observe two linear surface bands both from the CVD graphene notably flattened and BTS coexisting with their DPs separated by 0.53 eV in the photoemission data measured with synchrotron photons. We further demonstrate that the separation between the two DPs, {Delta}D-D, can be artificially fine-tuned by adjusting the amount of Cs atoms adsorbed on the graphene to a value as small as {Delta}D-D = 0.12 eV to find any proximity effect induced by the DPs. Our density functional theory calculation shows a spin-orbit gap of ~20 meV in the {pi}-band enhanced by three orders of magnitude from that of a pristine graphene, and a concomitant phase transition from a semi-metallic to a quantum spin Hall phase when {Delta}D-D $leq$ 0.20 eV. We thus present a practical means of spin-polarizing the {pi}-band of graphene, which can be pivotal to advance the graphene-based spintronics.
The ability to imprint a given material property to another through proximity effect in layered two-dimensional materials has opened the way to the creation of designer materials. Here, we use molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) for a direct synthesis of a superconductor-magnet hybrid heterostructure by combining superconducting niobium diselenide (NbSe$_2$) with the monolayer ferromagnetic chromium tribromide (CrBr$_3$). Using different characterization techniques and density-functional theory (DFT) calculations, we have confirmed that the CrBr$_3$ monolayer retains its ferromagnetic ordering with a magnetocrystalline anisotropy favoring an out-of-plane spin orientation. Low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements show a slight reduction of the superconducting gap of NbSe$_2$ and the formation of a vortex lattice on the CrBr$_3$ layer in experiments under an external magnetic field. Our results contribute to the broader framework of exploiting proximity effects to realize novel phenomena in 2D heterostructures.
The spin structure of the valence and conduction bands at the $overline{text{K}}$ and $overline{text{K}}$ valleys of single-layer WS$_2$ on Au(111) is determined by spin- and angle-resolved photoemission and inverse photoemission. The bands confining the direct band gap of 1.98 eV are out-of-plane spin polarized with spin-dependent energy splittings of 417 meV in the valence band and 16 meV in the conduction band. The sequence of the spin-split bands is the same in the valence and in the conduction bands and opposite at the $overline{text{K}}$ and the $overline{text{K}}$ high-symmetry points. The first observation explains dark excitons discussed in optical experiments, the latter points to coupled spin and valley physics in electron transport. The experimentally observed band dispersions are discussed along with band structure calculations for a freestanding single layer and for a single layer on Au(111).