A comprehensive analysis of the (√13 × âˆš13)R13.9° type II structure of silicene on Ag(1 1 1).

In this paper, using the same geometrical approach as for the (2 √ 3 × 2 √ 3)R30° structure (Jamgotchian et al 2015 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 27 395002), for the (√13 × âˆš13)R13.9° type II structure, we propose an atomic model of the silicene layer based on a periodic relaxation of the strain epitaxy. This relaxation creates periodic arrangements of perfect areas of (√13 × âˆš13)R13.9° type II structure surrounded by defect areas. A detailed analysis of the main published experimental results, obtained by scanning tunneling microscopy and by low energy electron diffraction, shows a good agreement with the geometrical model.