Structure of ultra-thin silicon and silicon carbide probed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Baba, Yuji  

In 1990th, theoretical calculation has shown that silicon carbide prefers to form a flat aromatic phase with graphene-like structure. Experimentally, we have confirmed that ultra-thin silicon carbide film forms aromatic phase with sp2 bond by means of X-ray absorption spectroscopy. In 2010th, the existence of graphene-like structure composed of only silicon has become exciting topics. This structure is recently called as silicene. As to this topic, we have again applied X-ray absorption spectroscopy to the structural analysis for ultra-thin silicon film. We have shown that a part of ultra-thin silicon film deposited on chemically inert surface exhibits sp2 configuration, which is the evidence for the existence of silicene-like structure.