TY - JOUR

T1 - Site- and spin-dependent coupling at the highly ordered h-BN/Co(0001) interface

AU - Усачев, Дмитрий Юрьевич

AU - Тарасов, Артем Вячеславович

AU - Бокай, Кирилл Андреевич

AU - Шевелев, Виктор Олегович

AU - Вилков, Олег Юрьевич

AU - Петухов, Анатолий Евгеньевич

AU - Рыбкин, Артем Геннадиевич

AU - Ogorodnikov, Ilya I.

AU - Kuznetsov, Mikhail V.

AU - Muntwiler, Matthias

AU - Matsui, Fumihiko

AU - Yashina, Lada V.

AU - Laubschat, Clemens

AU - Vyalikh, Denis V.

N1 - Funding Information: L.V.Ya. acknowledges the RSF (Grant No. 16-42-01093). A.V.T., V.O.S., K.A.B., O.Yu.V., and D.Yu.U. acknowledge St. Petersburg State University for research Grant No. 11.65.42.2017. M.V.K. and I.I.O. acknowledge the RFBR (Grant No. 16-29-06410). C.L. acknowledges the DFG (Grant Nos. LA655-17/1 and LA655-19/1). We thank the Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland for provision of synchrotron radiation beamtime at beamline PEARL of the SLS.

PY - 2018/11/26

Y1 - 2018/11/26

N2 - Using photoelectron diffraction and spectroscopy, we explore the structural and electronic properties of the hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) monolayer epitaxially grown on the Co(0001) surface. Perfect matching of the lattice parameters allows formation of a well-defined interface where the B atoms occupy the hollow sites while the N atoms are located above the Co atoms. The corrugation of the h-BN monolayer and its distance from the substrate were determined by means of R-factor analysis. The obtained results are in perfect agreement with the density functional theory (DFT) predictions. The electronic structure of the interface is characterized by a significant mixing of the h-BN and Co states. Such hybridized states appear in the h-BN band gap. This allows to obtain atomically resolved scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images from the formally insulating 2D material being in contact with ferromagnetic metal. The STM images reveal mainly the nitrogen sublattice due to a dominating contribution of nitrogen orbitals to the electronic states at the Fermi level. We believe that the high quality, well-defined structure and interesting electronic properties make the h-BN/Co(0001) interface suitable for spintronic applications.

AB - Using photoelectron diffraction and spectroscopy, we explore the structural and electronic properties of the hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) monolayer epitaxially grown on the Co(0001) surface. Perfect matching of the lattice parameters allows formation of a well-defined interface where the B atoms occupy the hollow sites while the N atoms are located above the Co atoms. The corrugation of the h-BN monolayer and its distance from the substrate were determined by means of R-factor analysis. The obtained results are in perfect agreement with the density functional theory (DFT) predictions. The electronic structure of the interface is characterized by a significant mixing of the h-BN and Co states. Such hybridized states appear in the h-BN band gap. This allows to obtain atomically resolved scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images from the formally insulating 2D material being in contact with ferromagnetic metal. The STM images reveal mainly the nitrogen sublattice due to a dominating contribution of nitrogen orbitals to the electronic states at the Fermi level. We believe that the high quality, well-defined structure and interesting electronic properties make the h-BN/Co(0001) interface suitable for spintronic applications.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85057366298&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevB.98.195438

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevB.98.195438

M3 - Article

VL - 98

JO - Physical Review B-Condensed Matter

JF - Physical Review B-Condensed Matter

SN - 1098-0121

IS - 19

M1 - 195438

ER -