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Monolayer Contact Doping of Silicon Surfaces and Nanowires Using Organophosphorus Compounds
Published on: December 2, 2013
Surface multiferroics in silicon enabled by hole-carrier doping
Xiaoyu Xuan1, Wanlin Guo1, Zhuhua Zhang1
1State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control of Mechanical Structures, Key Laboratory for Intelligent Nano Materials and Devices of Ministry of Education and Institute of Nanoscience, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China.
Abstract:
We predict a coexistence of magnetic and electric orders on clean Si(0 0 1) surfaces by first-principles calculations. Upon hole-carrier doping, the Si surfaces can be ferromagnetic, with polarized spins concentrated in an atom-thick space near the surface, due to an exchange splitting of localized s-like surface states on surface Si dimers. The surface magnetization can be controlled by reorienting the electric polarization of Si dimers, manifested as a transition from the magnetic antiferroelectric ground state to ferroelectric p(2 × 1) reconstruction that can be driven by an in-plane external electric field. The coupling between magnetic and electric orders can be further enhanced by strain silicon technology, rendering the Si surfaces as the first metal-free material displaying a multiferroic behavior.
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