Silicene-Like Domains on IrSi3 Crystallites

Recently, silicene, the graphene equivalent of silicon, has attracted a lot of attention because of its compatibility with Si-based electronics. So far, silicene has been epitaxially grown on various crystalline surfaces such as Ag(110), Ag(111), Ir(111), ZrB2(0001), and Au(110) substrates. Here, we present a new method to grow silicene via high-temperature surface reconstruction of hexagonal IrSi3 nanocrystals. The h-IrSi3 nanocrystals are formed by annealing thin Ir layers on the Si(111) surface. A detailed analysis of the scanning tunneling microscopy images shows the formation of silicene-like domains on the surface of some of the IrSi3 crystallites. We studied both morphology and electronic properties of these domains by using both scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy and first-principles calculation methods.