Ultraflat Honeycomb Stanene Nanoribbons on Au(111)

ABSTRACT Sn on Au(111) undergoes a structural and chemical evolution depending on the submonolayer coverage. After deposition of ML Sn, the coverage was controlled by temperature‐driven desorption. Annealing to produced the striped phase, which consists of alternating honeycomb and square‐like Sn stripes, with periodicities ranging from to , most commonly . Honeycomb regions are atomically flat, with a Sn–Sn bond length of Å. Low‐energy electron diffraction (LEED), atomically resolved scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveal structural and chemical transitions as a function of Sn coverage. Without further annealing, deposition yields a square‐like X‐phase atop an interface alloy. Annealing induces dealloying and the formation of the striped phase, while further desorption produces a stretched honeycomb phase. Annealing above , and at ML coverage, the alloy reforms. For the striped phase, a model is proposed where square‐like stripes grow on regions and honeycomb stripes on Au(111). The alternating regions correspond to zigzag stanene nanoribbons of to width. The structural transitions of the Sn/Au(111) system highlight its structural versatility, driven by alloying–dealloying processes at the interface.