First-principles study of monolayer and bilayer honeycomb structures of group-IV elements and their binary compounds

By using first-principles pseudopotential method, we investigate the structural, vibrational, and electronic properties of monolayer and bilayer honeycomb structures of group-IV elements and their binary compounds. It is found that the honeycomb structures of Si, Ge, and SiGe are buckled for stabilization, while those of binary compounds SiC and GeC containing the first row elements C are planar similar to a graphene sheet. The phonon dispersion relations and electronic band structures are very sensitive to the number of layers, the stacking order, and whether the layers are planar or buckled. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.