| Li Tao, Eugenio Cinquanta, Daniele Chiappe, Carlo Grazianetti, Marco Fanciulli, Madan Dubey, Alessandro Molle and Deji Akinwande
Silicene field-effect transistors (FETs) have been successfully fabricated at room temperature, demonstrating ambipolar Dirac charge transport. Silicene, a silicon analog of graphene, has a buckled honeycomb lattice and exhibits a Dirac band structure, making it a promising candidate for future nanoelectronic devices. However, its air instability has hindered experimental device studies. This study presents a novel synthesis-transfer-fabrication process called Silicene Encapsulated Delamination with Native Electrodes (SEDNE), which enables the preservation of silicene during transfer and device fabrication. This method allows for the reuse of growth substrates and is applicable to other air-sensitive 2D materials such as germanene and phosphorene.
The SEDNE process involves epitaxial silicene growth on Ag(111) thin films, encapsulated delamination transfer between Al₂O₃ and native Ag films, and the use of native Ag films as contact electrodes. Silicene growth was monitored using real-time RHEED and in-situ STM, revealing multiple coexisting silicene domains with different periodic orders. Raman spectroscopy confirmed the integrity of silicene on Ag(111), showing a sharp peak in the 515-522 cm⁻¹ range, indicative of silicene's structure.
The fabricated silicene FETs exhibited room-temperature mobility of about 100 cm²/V·s, attributed to acoustic phonon limited transport and grain boundary scattering. The devices showed ambipolar transport behavior, with measured hole and electron mobilities of 129 and 58 cm²/V·s for device #1, and 99 and 86 cm²/V·s for device #2. The residual carrier concentration was significantly lower than that of graphene, suggesting a small band gap opening in the experimental devices.
The SEDNE process enables the fabrication of silicene devices with high gate modulation and low residual carrier density, making it a promising candidate for future nanoelectronic applications. The study also highlights the importance of silicene's interaction with Ag in stabilizing the material and its potential for integration with silicon semiconductor technology. The results demonstrate the first experimental evidence of silicene devices in agreement with theoretical predictions of Dirac-like ambipolar charge transport.Silicene field-effect transistors (FETs) have been successfully fabricated at room temperature, demonstrating ambipolar Dirac charge transport. Silicene, a silicon analog of graphene, has a buckled honeycomb lattice and exhibits a Dirac band structure, making it a promising candidate for future nanoelectronic devices. However, its air instability has hindered experimental device studies. This study presents a novel synthesis-transfer-fabrication process called Silicene Encapsulated Delamination with Native Electrodes (SEDNE), which enables the preservation of silicene during transfer and device fabrication. This method allows for the reuse of growth substrates and is applicable to other air-sensitive 2D materials such as germanene and phosphorene.
The SEDNE process involves epitaxial silicene growth on Ag(111) thin films, encapsulated delamination transfer between Al₂O₃ and native Ag films, and the use of native Ag films as contact electrodes. Silicene growth was monitored using real-time RHEED and in-situ STM, revealing multiple coexisting silicene domains with different periodic orders. Raman spectroscopy confirmed the integrity of silicene on Ag(111), showing a sharp peak in the 515-522 cm⁻¹ range, indicative of silicene's structure.
The fabricated silicene FETs exhibited room-temperature mobility of about 100 cm²/V·s, attributed to acoustic phonon limited transport and grain boundary scattering. The devices showed ambipolar transport behavior, with measured hole and electron mobilities of 129 and 58 cm²/V·s for device #1, and 99 and 86 cm²/V·s for device #2. The residual carrier concentration was significantly lower than that of graphene, suggesting a small band gap opening in the experimental devices.
The SEDNE process enables the fabrication of silicene devices with high gate modulation and low residual carrier density, making it a promising candidate for future nanoelectronic applications. The study also highlights the importance of silicene's interaction with Ag in stabilizing the material and its potential for integration with silicon semiconductor technology. The results demonstrate the first experimental evidence of silicene devices in agreement with theoretical predictions of Dirac-like ambipolar charge transport.