Semiconductor to metal transition in two-dimensional gold and its van der Waals heterostack with graphene

Abstract

The synthesis of transition metals in a two-dimensional (2D) fashion has attracted growing attention for both fundamental and application-oriented investigations, such as 2D magnetism, nanoplasmonics and non-linear optics. However, the large-area synthesis of this class of materials in a single-layer form poses non-trivial difficulties. Here we present the synthesis of a large-area 2D gold layer, stabilized in between silicon carbide and monolayer (ML) graphene. We show that the 2D-Au ML is a semiconductor with the valence band maximum 50 meV below the Fermi level. The graphene and gold layers are largely non-interacting, thereby defining a novel class of van der Waals heterostructure. The 2D-Au bands, exhibit a 225 meV spin-orbit splitting along the {ΓK} direction, making it appealing for spin-related applications. By tuning the amount of gold at the SiC/graphene interface, we induce a semiconductor to metal transition in the 2D-Au, which was never observed before and hosts great interest for fundamental physics.

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Cited by in corpus (18)

• Towards Exotic Layered Materials: 2D Cuprous Iodide
• Synthesis of large-area rhombohedral few-layer graphene by chemical vapor deposition on copper
• Momentum microscopy of Pb-intercalated graphene on SiC: charge neutrality and electronic structure of interfacial Pb
• Stabilizing an atomically thin quantum spin Hall insulator at ambient conditions: Graphene-intercalation of indenene
• Large-Area Intercalated 2D-Pb/Graphene Heterostructure as a Platform for Generating Spin-Orbit Torque
• Surface charge-transfer doping a quantum-confined silver monolayer beneath epitaxial graphene
• Monolayer Magnetic Metal with Scalable Conductivity
• Confined monolayer Ag as a large gap 2D semiconductor and its momentum resolved excited states
• Ambipolar charge transport in quasi-free-standing monolayer graphene on SiC obtained by gold intercalation
• Intercalated structures formed by platinum on epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001)
• Bilayer graphene as a template for manufacturing novel 2D materials
• Pb-intercalated epitaxial graphene on SiC: Full insight into band structure and orbital character of interlayer Pb, and charge transfer into graphene
• Novel structures of Gallenene intercalated in epitaxial Graphene
• Non-equilibrium carrier dynamics and band structure of graphene on 2D tin
• Point defects and their dynamic behaviors in silver monolayer intercalated between graphene and SiC
• Charge to spin conversion in atomically thin bismuth
• Charge transfer between van der Waals coupled metallic 2D layers
• Two-dimensional Indium Oxide at the Epitaxial Graphene/SiC Interface: Synthesis, Structure, Properties, and Devices