Project Details
Projekt
Modeling of emergent features in functionalized epitaxial graphene
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Sibylle Gemming
Subject Area
Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 449119662
The central objective of the project is to determine whether the experimentally observed structure evolution processes during the intercalation of EG lead to transient or metastable interface structures or to thermodynamically stable interphases, each with distinct electronic or spin states that emerge upon growth in the 2D confined space provided by EG. For this purpose the project T1 will exploring the formation and stability, the structural, electronic and transport properties, and the potentially arising spin textures of the interfacial 2D structures growing between the graphene layers and Si-terminated (0001) surface of SiC based on electronic structure modeling. Three key questions will be addressed: (1) To which degree do the observed structures represent two-dimensional phases that are stable in or stabilized by the very specific 2D environment set up by the SiC surface and the EG cover layers? (2) How can their formation and interconversion be triggered reliably? (3) Which emergent electronic features will be found in the spatial and time domains? We intend to grasp the relevant processes for the specific intercalation systems by multi-scale modelling, starting from first-principles via coarse-grained electronic structure methods to a kMC- and rate-equation-based description of the intercalation process. Comparing with experimental data we aspire to derive a more universal picture of structure formation in asymmetrically confined 2D systems.
DFG Programme
Research Units
