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 (root 3 x root 3)R30 degrees reconstructed epitaxial multilayer silicene islands, growing on top of the first (3 x 3) reconstructed silicene wetting layer, on Ag(111) substrates. We found Lambda- and V-shape linear dispersions, which we relate to the pi and pi* bands of massless quasiparticles in multilayer silicene, at the BZ centre (Gamma) over bar (0) and at all the (Gamma) over bar centres of the (root 3 x root 3)R30 degrees Brillouin zones in the extended scheme, due to folding of the Dirac cones at the (K) over bar and (K) over bar' points of the (1 x 1) silicene BZ. The Fermi velocity of similar to 0.3 x 10(6) m s(-1) obtained is highly promising for potential silicene-based devices.