Transition from silicene monolayer to thin Si films on Ag(111): comparison between experimental data and Monte Carlo simulation.

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and low energy electron diffraction have been used to follow the growth of Si films on Ag(111) at various temperatures. Using a simple growth model, we have simulated the distribution of film thickness as a function of coverage during evaporation, for the different temperatures. In the temperature regime where multilayer silicene has been claimed to form (470-500 K), a good agreement is found with AES intensity variations and STM measurements within a Ag surfactant mediated growth, whereas a model with multilayer silicene growth fails to reproduce the AES measurements.