Crystal phase engineering of silicene by Sn-modified Ag(111).

The synthesis of silicene by direct growth on silver is characterized by the formation of multiple phases and domains, posing severe constraints on the spatial charge conduction towards a technological transfer of silicene to electronic transport devices. Here we engineer the silicene/silver interface by two schemes, namely, either through decoration by Sn atoms, forming an AgSn surface alloy, or by buffering the interface with a stanene layer. Whereas in both cases Raman spectra confirm the typical features as expected from silicene, by electron diffraction we observe that a very well-ordered single-phase 4 × 4 monolayer silicene is stabilized by the decorated surface, while the buffered interface exhibits a sharp phase at all silicon coverages.

Tailoring the magnetic ordering of the CrO/Fe(001) surface via a controlled adsorption of C organic molecules.

We analyse the spinterface formed by a C molecular layer on a Fe(001) surface covered by a two-dimensional CrO layer. We consider different geometries, by combining the high symmetry adsorption sites of the surface with three possible orientations of the molecules in a fully relaxed Density Functional Theory calculation. We show that the local hybridization between the electronic states of the CrO layer and those of the organic molecules is able to modify the magnetic coupling of the Cr atoms.