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

对石墨烯的硅类似物（称为硅烯）的更深入理解需要制备方法，以允许其以足够的尺寸和质量生产。现有的方法不能满足这些要求，硅烯的实验研究进展滞后于理论研究的进展。它似乎是一个有吸引力的路线，以生产硅烯表面可能导致通过铜硅化物Cu（3+x）Si，其最近描述的结构包含硅与硅烯安排的硅的单原子层。该项目的目的是找到一个最佳的程序来生产Cu（3+x）Si相对于硅层的尺寸和质量，然后暴露硅烯表面。采用低压CVD法和磁控溅射法在Si或Cu衬底上制备了硅化铜。该表面将通过铜的选择性化学蚀刻或通过硅化铜层的机械分离而暴露。通过这种方式，将有可能在铜簇基底上产生大型单原子类硅层。

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.