A comprehensive analysis of the (R13xR13)R13.9{\deg} type II structure of silicene on Ag(111)

TL;DR

This paper presents an atomic model for the (R13xR13)R13.9° type II silicene structure on Ag(111), based on a geometrical approach and strain relaxation, aligning well with experimental STM and LEED data.

Contribution

It introduces a new atomic model for the silicene structure using a geometrical strain relaxation approach, extending previous models for similar structures.

Findings

Model aligns with STM and LEED experimental results

Periodic strain relaxation creates defect and perfect areas

Good agreement between model and experimental observations

Abstract

In this paper, using the same geometrical approach than for the (2R3x2R3) R30{\deg} structure (H. Jamgotchian et al., 2015, Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter 27 395002), for the (R13xR13)R13.9{\deg} type II structure, we propose an atomic model of the silicene layer based on a periodic relaxation of the strain epitaxy. This relaxation creates periodic arrangements of perfect areas of (R13xR13)R13.9{\deg} type II structure surrounded by defect areas. A detailed analysis of the main published experimental results, obtained by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and by Low Energy Electron Diffraction, shows a good agreement with the geometrical model.