Integration paths for Xenes

Atomically thin two-dimensional materials synthesized from single atomic species of Group 13–16 elements, known as Xenes, are at the forefront of postgraphene nanoelectronics era. Thanks to their unique physical and chemical properties, they hold promise not only to tackle the issues arising from an aggressive downscaling of silicon devices but also to produce a wide range of applications augmenting those offered by traditional Si CMOS technology. However, the integration of Xenes in device architectures is hampered by stringent requirements in their synthesis, often performed with ultrahigh vacuum techniques, and due to their high instability in ambient air. In the present chapter, we illustrate some of the emerging applications investigated in Xenes and their heterostructures in the field of nanoelectronics, sensing, spintronics, biomedicine, memory, and photonics, along with the processing schemes developed for their manipulation outside the growth environment and their device integration.