Ab initio simulations of pseudomorphic silicene and germanene bidimensional heterostructures

Among the novel two-dimensional (2D) materials, silicene and germanene, which are two honeycomb crystal structures composed of a monolayer of Si and Ge, respectively, have attracted the attention of material scientists because they combine the advantages of the new 2D ultimate-scaled electronics with their compatibility with industrial processes presently based on Si and Ge. We envisage pseudomorphic lateral heterostructures based on ribbons of silicene and germanene, which are the 2D analogs of conventional 3D Si/Ge superlattices and quantum wells. In spite of the considerable lattice mismatch (~4%) between free-standing silicene and germanene, our ab initio simulations predict that, considering striped 2D lateral heterostructures made by alternating silicene and germanene ribbons of constant width, the silicene/germanene junction remains pseudomorphic--i.e., it maintains lattice-matched edges--up to critical ribbon widths that can reach some tens of nanometers. Such critical widths are one order of magnitude larger than the critical thickness measured in 3D pseudomorphic Si/Ge heterostructures and the resolution of state-of-the-art lithography, thus enabling the possibility of lithography patterned silicene/germanene junctions. We computed how the strain produced by the pseudomorphic growth modifies the crystal structure and electronic bands of the ribbons, providing a mechanism for band-structure engineering. Our results pave the way for lithography patterned lateral heterostructures that can serve as the building blocks of novel 2D electronics.