The quasiparticle band dispersion in epitaxial multilayer silicene

The growth of multilayer silicene is an exciting challenge for the future of silicon nano-electronics. Here, we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to map the entire Brillouin zone (BZ) of (√3 × √3)R30° reconstructed epitaxial multilayer silicene islands, growing on top of the first (3 × 3) reconstructed silicene wetting layer, on Ag(111) substrates. We found Λ- and V-shape linear dispersions, which we relate to the π and π* bands of massless quasiparticles in multilayer silicene, at the BZ centre and at all the centres of the (√3 × √3)R30° Brillouin zones in the extended scheme, due to folding of the Dirac cones at the and points of the (1 × 1) silicene BZ. The Fermi velocity of ∼0.3 × 106 m s−1 obtained is highly promising for potential silicene-based devices.