"Silicene on copper": monoatomic silicon surface layer with silicene-like arrangement on Cu3+xSi prepared by chemical and mechanical exfoliation

更深入地了解被称为硅烯的石墨烯的硅类似物需要制备方法，使其能够以足够的尺寸和质量生产。现有的方法无法满足这些要求，因而硅烯的实验研究进展滞后于理论研究进展。看来，硅烯表面生产的一个有吸引力的途径可能是通过硅化铜Cu(3+x)Si，其最近描述的结构包含硅烯排列的单原子硅层。该项目的目的是根据硅层的尺寸和质量找到一种生产Cu(3+x)Si的最佳工艺，然后将硅表面暴露出来。采用低压气相沉积法和磁控溅射法在Si或Cu衬底上制备硅化铜。表面将通过铜的选择性化学蚀刻或通过机械分离硅化铜层来暴露。这样，就有可能在铜簇的衬底上产生大的单原子类硅层。

A deeper understanding of the silicon analogue of graphene dubbed silicene requires methods of preparation that will allow its production in sufficient size and quality. The currently available methods fail to fulfil these requirements, and the progress of experimental research on silicene thus lags behind the progress in theory. It appears that an attractive route to production of silicene surfaces may lead through copper silicide Cu(3+x)Si, whose recently described structure contains monoatomic layers of silicon with silicene arrangement. The aim of the proposed project is finding an optimal procedure for the production of Cu(3+x)Si with respect to the size and quality of the silicon layers, and then expose the silicene surface. Copper silicide will be prepared by low-pressure CVD method and by magnetron sputtering on Si or Cu substrate. The surface will be exposed by a selective chemical etching of copper or by mechanical separation of the copper silicide layers. In this way, it will be possible to produce large monoatomic silicene-like layers on a substrate of copper clusters.