Ultrafast carrier dynamics of epitaxial silicene

Eugenio Cinquanta; Guido Fratesi; Stefano dal Conte; Carlo Grazianetti; Francesco Scotognella; Salvatore Stagira; Caterina Vozzi; Giovanni Onida; Alessandro Molle

doi:10.1117/12.2252009

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23 February 2017 Ultrafast carrier dynamics of epitaxial silicene

Eugenio Cinquanta, Guido Fratesi, Stefano dal Conte, Carlo Grazianetti, Francesco Scotognella, Salvatore Stagira, Caterina Vozzi, Giovanni Onida, Alessandro Molle

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Proceedings Volume 10102, Ultrafast Phenomena and Nanophotonics XXI; 101020J (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2252009
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2017, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

The recent integration of silicene in field-effect transistors (FET) opened new challenges in the comprehension of the chemical and physical properties of this elusive two-dimensional allotropic form of silicon. Intense efforts have been devoted to the study of the epitaxial Silicene/Ag(111) system in order to elucidate the presence of Dirac fermion in analogy with graphene; strong hybridization effects in silicene superstructures on silver have been invoked as responsible for the disruption of π and π* bands. In this framework, the measured ambipolar effect in silicene-based FET characterized by a relatively high mobility, points out to a complex physics at the silicene-silver interface, demanding for a deeper comprehension of its details on the atomic scale. Here we elucidate the role of the metallic support in determining the physical properties of the Si/Ag interface, by means of optical techniques combined with theoretical calculations of the optical response of the supported system. The silicene/Ag(111) spectra, which turn out to be strongly non-additive, are analyzed in the framework of theoretical density functional based calculations allowing us to single out contributions arising from different localization. Electronic transitions involving silver states are found to provide a huge contribution to the optical absorption of silicene on silver, compatible with a strong Si-Ag hybridization. The results point to a dimensionality-driven peculiar dielectric response of the two-dimensional-silicon/silver interface, which is confirmed by means of Transient-Reflectance spectroscopy. The latter shows a metallic-like carrier dynamics, (both for silicene and amorphous silicon), hence providing an optical demonstration of the strong hybridization arising in silicene/Ag(111) systems.

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Eugenio Cinquanta, Guido Fratesi, Stefano dal Conte, Carlo Grazianetti, Francesco Scotognella, Salvatore Stagira, Caterina Vozzi, Giovanni Onida, and Alessandro Molle "Ultrafast carrier dynamics of epitaxial silicene", Proc. SPIE 10102, Ultrafast Phenomena and Nanophotonics XXI, 101020J (23 February 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2252009

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