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Title: Realization of a Hole-Doped Mott Insulator on a Triangular Silicon Lattice

Abstract

The physics of doped Mott insulators is at the heart of some of the most exotic physical phenomena in materials research including insulator-metal transitions, colossal magnetoresistance, and high-temperature superconductivity in layered perovskite compounds. Advances in this field would greatly benefit from the availability of new material systems with a similar richness of physical phenomena but with fewer chemical and structural complications in comparison to oxides. In this paper, using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, we show that such a system can be realized on a silicon platform. The adsorption of one-third monolayer of Sn atoms on a Si(111) surface produces a triangular surface lattice with half filled dangling bond orbitals. Modulation hole doping of these dangling bonds unveils clear hallmarks of Mott physics, such as spectral weight transfer and the formation of quasiparticle states at the Fermi level, well-defined Fermi contour segments, and a sharp singularity in the density of states. These observations are remarkably similar to those made in complex oxide materials, including high-temperature superconductors, but highly extraordinary within the realm of conventional $sp$-bonded semiconductor materials. Finally, it suggests that exotic quantum matter phases can be realized and engineered on silicon-based materials platforms.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy. Joint Inst. of Advanced Materials
  3. Inha Univ., Incheon (Korea, Republic of). Dept. of Physics
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Computational Science and Engineering Division. Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences
  5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division; Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Inha University, Incheon (Korea, Republic of)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE; ORNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; UT-ORNL Joint Directed Research and Development (JDRD) Program; National Science Foundation (NSF); National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) of Korea
OSTI Identifier:
1471877
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1414990
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725; DMR 1410265; NRF-2017R1A2B2003928
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 119; Journal Issue: 26; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; phase transitions; Mott insulators; semiconducting systems; strongly correlated systems; surfaces; Hubbard model; scanning tunneling microscopy

Citation Formats

Ming, Fangfei, Johnston, Steve, Mulugeta, Daniel, Smith, Tyler S., Vilmercati, Paolo, Lee, Geunseop, Maier, Thomas A., Snijders, Paul C., and Weitering, Hanno H. Realization of a Hole-Doped Mott Insulator on a Triangular Silicon Lattice. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.266802.
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Ming, Fangfei, Johnston, Steve, Mulugeta, Daniel, Smith, Tyler S., Vilmercati, Paolo, Lee, Geunseop, Maier, Thomas A., Snijders, Paul C., & Weitering, Hanno H. Realization of a Hole-Doped Mott Insulator on a Triangular Silicon Lattice. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.266802
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Ming, Fangfei, Johnston, Steve, Mulugeta, Daniel, Smith, Tyler S., Vilmercati, Paolo, Lee, Geunseop, Maier, Thomas A., Snijders, Paul C., and Weitering, Hanno H. Wed . "Realization of a Hole-Doped Mott Insulator on a Triangular Silicon Lattice". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.266802. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1471877.
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@article{osti_1471877,
title = {Realization of a Hole-Doped Mott Insulator on a Triangular Silicon Lattice},
author = {Ming, Fangfei and Johnston, Steve and Mulugeta, Daniel and Smith, Tyler S. and Vilmercati, Paolo and Lee, Geunseop and Maier, Thomas A. and Snijders, Paul C. and Weitering, Hanno H.},
abstractNote = {The physics of doped Mott insulators is at the heart of some of the most exotic physical phenomena in materials research including insulator-metal transitions, colossal magnetoresistance, and high-temperature superconductivity in layered perovskite compounds. Advances in this field would greatly benefit from the availability of new material systems with a similar richness of physical phenomena but with fewer chemical and structural complications in comparison to oxides. In this paper, using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, we show that such a system can be realized on a silicon platform. The adsorption of one-third monolayer of Sn atoms on a Si(111) surface produces a triangular surface lattice with half filled dangling bond orbitals. Modulation hole doping of these dangling bonds unveils clear hallmarks of Mott physics, such as spectral weight transfer and the formation of quasiparticle states at the Fermi level, well-defined Fermi contour segments, and a sharp singularity in the density of states. These observations are remarkably similar to those made in complex oxide materials, including high-temperature superconductors, but highly extraordinary within the realm of conventional $sp$-bonded semiconductor materials. Finally, it suggests that exotic quantum matter phases can be realized and engineered on silicon-based materials platforms.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.266802},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 26,
volume = 119,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Dec 27 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Wed Dec 27 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}
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Journal Article:
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https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.266802
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    The Mott to Kondo transition in diluted Kondo superlattices
    journal, May 2019

    Atomic and electronic structure of doped Si ( 111 ) ( 2 3 × 2 3 ) R 30 ∘ -Sn interfaces
    journal, May 2018

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