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Semiconductor to metal transition in two-dimensional gold and its van der Waals heterostack with graphene

Forti, Stiven ; Link, Stefan ; Stöhr, Alexander ; Niu, Yuran LU ; Zakharov, Alexei A. LU ; Coletti, Camilla and Starke, Ulrich (2020) In Nature Communications 11(1).
Abstract

The synthesis of two-dimensional (2D) transition metals has attracted growing attention for both fundamental and application-oriented investigations, such as 2D magnetism, nanoplasmonics and non-linear optics. However, the large-area synthesis of this class of materials in a single-layer form poses non-trivial difficulties. Here we present the synthesis of a large-area 2D gold layer, stabilized in between silicon carbide and monolayer graphene. We show that the 2D-Au ML is a semiconductor with the valence band maximum 50 meV below the Fermi level. The graphene and gold layers are largely non-interacting, thereby defining a class of van der Waals heterostructure. The 2D-Au bands, exhibit a 225 meV spin-orbit splitting along the Γ K ¯... (More)

The synthesis of two-dimensional (2D) transition metals has attracted growing attention for both fundamental and application-oriented investigations, such as 2D magnetism, nanoplasmonics and non-linear optics. However, the large-area synthesis of this class of materials in a single-layer form poses non-trivial difficulties. Here we present the synthesis of a large-area 2D gold layer, stabilized in between silicon carbide and monolayer graphene. We show that the 2D-Au ML is a semiconductor with the valence band maximum 50 meV below the Fermi level. The graphene and gold layers are largely non-interacting, thereby defining a class of van der Waals heterostructure. The 2D-Au bands, exhibit a 225 meV spin-orbit splitting along the Γ K ¯ direction, making it appealing for spin-related applications. By tuning the amount of gold at the SiC/graphene interface, we induce a semiconductor to metal transition in the 2D-Au, which has not yet been observed and hosts great interest for fundamental physics.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Communications
volume
11
issue
1
article number
2236
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:32376867
  • scopus:85084394838
ISSN
2041-1723
DOI
10.1038/s41467-020-15683-1
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
fd10edef-f3bb-40b7-afec-e1ea2c2eacd1
date added to LUP
2020-06-09 10:09:42
date last changed
2024-04-17 10:09:29
@article{fd10edef-f3bb-40b7-afec-e1ea2c2eacd1,
  abstract     = {{<p>The synthesis of two-dimensional (2D) transition metals has attracted growing attention for both fundamental and application-oriented investigations, such as 2D magnetism, nanoplasmonics and non-linear optics. However, the large-area synthesis of this class of materials in a single-layer form poses non-trivial difficulties. Here we present the synthesis of a large-area 2D gold layer, stabilized in between silicon carbide and monolayer graphene. We show that the 2D-Au ML is a semiconductor with the valence band maximum 50 meV below the Fermi level. The graphene and gold layers are largely non-interacting, thereby defining a class of van der Waals heterostructure. The 2D-Au bands, exhibit a 225 meV spin-orbit splitting along the Γ K ¯ direction, making it appealing for spin-related applications. By tuning the amount of gold at the SiC/graphene interface, we induce a semiconductor to metal transition in the 2D-Au, which has not yet been observed and hosts great interest for fundamental physics.</p>}},
  author       = {{Forti, Stiven and Link, Stefan and Stöhr, Alexander and Niu, Yuran and Zakharov, Alexei A. and Coletti, Camilla and Starke, Ulrich}},
  issn         = {{2041-1723}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Communications}},
  title        = {{Semiconductor to metal transition in two-dimensional gold and its van der Waals heterostack with graphene}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15683-1}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41467-020-15683-1}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}