Issue 53, 2020

Two-dimensional silicon bismotide (SiBi) monolayer with a honeycomb-like lattice: first-principles study of tuning the electronic properties

Abstract

Using density functional theory, we investigate a novel two-dimensional silicon bismotide (SiBi) that has a layered GaSe-like crystal structure. Ab initio molecular dynamic simulations and phonon dispersion calculations suggest its good thermal and dynamical stability. The SiBi monolayer is a semiconductor with a narrow indirect bandgap of 0.4 eV. Our results show that the indirect bandgap decreases as the number of layers increases, and when the number of layers is more than six layers, direct-to-indirect bandgap switching occurs. The SiBi bilayer is found to be very sensitive to an E-field. The bandgap monotonically decreases in response to uniaxial and biaxial compressive strain, and reaches 0.2 eV at 5%, while at 6%, the semiconductor becomes a metal. For both uniaxial and biaxial tensile strains, the material remains a semiconductor and indirect-to-direct bandgap transition occurs at a strain of 3%. Compared to a SiBi monolayer with a layer thickness of 4.89 Å, the bandgap decreases with either increasing or decreasing layer thickness, and at a thicknesses of 4.59 to 5.01 Å, the semiconductor-to-metal transition happens. In addition, under pressure, the semiconducting character of the SiBi bilayer with a 0.25 eV direct bandgap is preserved. Our results demonstrate that the SiBi nanosheet is a promising candidate for designing high-speed low-dissipation devices.

Graphical abstract: Two-dimensional silicon bismotide (SiBi) monolayer with a honeycomb-like lattice: first-principles study of tuning the electronic properties

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Jun 2020
Accepted
05 Aug 2020
First published
02 Sep 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2020,10, 31894-31900

Two-dimensional silicon bismotide (SiBi) monolayer with a honeycomb-like lattice: first-principles study of tuning the electronic properties

A. Bafekry, F. Shojaei, M. M. Obeid, M. Ghergherehchi, C. Nguyen and M. Oskouian, RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 31894 DOI: 10.1039/D0RA05026A

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