On the feasibility of silicene encapsulation by AlN deposited using an atomic layer deposition process
- MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede (Netherlands)
- School of Materials Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292 (Japan)
Since epitaxial silicene is not chemically inert under ambient conditions, its application in devices and the ex-situ characterization outside of ultrahigh vacuum environments require the use of an insulating capping layer. Here, we report on a study of the feasibility of encapsulating epitaxial silicene on ZrB{sub 2}(0001) thin films grown on Si(111) substrates by aluminum nitride (AlN) deposited using trimethylaluminum (TMA) and ammonia (NH{sub 3}) precursors. By in-situ high-resolution core-level photoelectron spectroscopy, the chemical modifications of the surface due to subsequent exposure to TMA and NH{sub 3} molecules, at temperatures of 300 °C and 400 °C, respectively, have been investigated. While an AlN-related layer can indeed be grown, silicene reacts strongly with both precursor molecules resulting in the formation of Si–C and Si–N bonds such that the use of these precursors does not allow for the protective AlN encapsulation that leaves the electronic properties of silicene intact.
- OSTI ID:
- 22416127
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 142, Issue 6; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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