Formation of Iron Silicides Under Graphene Grown on the Silicon Carbide Surface
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ACE PHYSICS AND THIN FILMS
Formation of Iron Silicides Under Graphene Grown on the Silicon Carbide Surface G. S. Grebenyuka, I. A. Eliseeva, S. P. Lebedeva, b, E. Yu. Lobanovab, D. A. Smirnovc, V. Yu. Davydova, A. A. Lebedeva, and I. I. Pronina, * a Ioffe
Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia c Institute of Solid State Physics, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany *e-mail: [email protected] b
Received April 13, 2020; revised April 13, 2020; accepted April 21, 2020
Abstract—The formation of iron silicide thin films under graphene grown on the silicon carbide surface is investigated. The thin films are synthesized by consecutive intercalation of iron and silicon atoms into the graphene. Experiments are carried out in situ in ultrahigh vacuum. The elemental composition and chemical state of the surface of prepared samples and their atomic structure are determined by low-energy electron diffraction and high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation. The thickness of deposited iron and silicon layers varies in the range of 0.1–2 nm, and the sample annealing temperature is varied from room temperature to 600°C. We show that intercalation of silicon into the graphene/Fe/SiC system leads to the formation of a layer of Fe–Si solid solution coated with the surface silicide Fe3Si. The films are effectively protected by graphene from exposure to ambient environment, which opens possibilities for their practical application. Keywords: graphene on silicon carbide, iron, intercalation, silicides, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy DOI: 10.1134/S1063783420100108
1. INTRODUCTION In the recent years, interfaces between graphene and ferromagnetic materials draw considerable interest owing to the unusual physical properties of these systems and their possible use in spin filters and other spintronic devices [1–3]. By the present time, majority of studies have been concerned with growing graphene directly on metal surfaces by chemical vapor deposition. However, sublimation of silicon from single-crystal dielectric silicon carbide supports is one most promising technique for the growth of highquality epitaxial graphene [4]. One major advantage of this technique is that the need for transferring a grown graphene film onto a dielectric support, as is the case in growing graphene on metals, falls away. In addition, with this technology, graphene can be grown on commercial large-diameter SiC substrates, which enables its integration into standard production line of semiconducting devices. The graphene–ferromagnetic interface in a graphene/SiC system can be created by intercalation, i.e., by incorporating atoms of magnetic metals underneath the graphene layer. Recently, this approach has been used in fabrication of graphene/Fe/SiC and graphene/Co/SiC interfaces [3, 5–9]. Apart from iron group metals as such, their silicides hold promise for
modifying the electronic and spin structure of graphene. Silicides are advantageous in that they display a plethor
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