Holistic structural understanding of epitaxially-grown Bi/Au(111) moiré superstructures

Vezzoni Vicente, Pablo; Weiss, Tobias; Meier, Dennis; Zhao, Wenchao; Tömekçe, Birce Sena; G. Cuxart, Marc; Klein, Benedikt P.; Duncan, David A.; Lee, Tien-Lin; Papageorgiou, Anthoula C.; Muntwiler, Matthias; Seitsonen, Ari Paavo; Auwärter, Willi; Feulner, Peter; Barth, Johannes V.; Allegretti, Francesco

Abstract

In light of the recent research interest in low-dimensional bismuth structures as spin-active materials and topological insulators, we present a comprehensive characterization of the Bi/Au⁡(111) interface. The nuanced evolution of Bi phases upon deposition in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) on a Au⁡(111) surface is investigated from semidisordered clusters to few-layer Bi⁡(110) thin films. Particular attention is devoted to the high-coverage, submonolayer phases, commonly grouped under the (𝑃×√3) nomenclature. We bring forth a new model, refining the current understanding of the Bi/Au⁡(111) interface and demonstrating the existence of submonolayer moiré superstructures, whose geometry and superperiodicity depend on their coverage. This tuneable periodicity paves the way for their use as tailored buffer and templating layers for epitaxial growth of thin films on Au⁡(111). Finally, we clarify the growth mode of multilayer Bi⁡(110) as bilayer-by-bilayer, allowing precise thickness control of anisotropically strained thin films. This holistic understanding of the structural properties of the material was enabled by the synergy of several experimental techniques, namely low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM, STS), and x-ray standing waves (XSW), further corroborated by density functional theory (DFT) simulations.

Citation

Vezzoni Vicente, P., Weiss, T., Meier, D., Zhao, W., Tömekçe, B. S., G. Cuxart, M., Klein, B. P., Duncan, D. A., Lee, T.-L., Papageorgiou, A. C., Muntwiler, M., Seitsonen, A. P., Auwärter, W., Feulner, P., Barth, J. V., & Allegretti, F. (2024). Holistic structural understanding of epitaxially-grown Bi/Au(111) moiré superstructures. Physical Review Materials, 8(10), Article 104001. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevmaterials.8.104001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 4, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Oct 1, 2024
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Nov 18, 2024
• Journal: Physical Review Materials
• Electronic ISSN: 2475-9953
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 10
• Article Number: 104001
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevmaterials.8.104001
• Keywords: Adsorption; Chemical bonding; Density functional theory; Growth; Nucleation on surfaces; Structural properties; Surface & interfacial phenomena; Bilayer films; Clusters; Monolayer films; Solid-solid interfaces; Surfaces; Vacuum interfaces; Low-energy elec
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/41932258
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prmaterials/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.8.104001