Influence of conventional furnace and rapid thermal annealing on the quality of polycrystalline β-FeSi2 thin films grown from vapor-deposited Fe/Si multilayers

Structural and trap properties of polycrystalline semiconducting FeSi2thin films

“…This behaviour cannot be explained directly, unless we combine it with the fact that more than one carrier coexists in the material. This conclusion is supported by Hall voltage and magnetoresistance measurements, suggesting that we have at least two carriers of opposite sign [4]. Under certain circumstances, one carrier dominates over the other and the semiconductor appears either p or n type, i.e.…”

“…The polycrystalline β-FeSi 2 films studied in this work were grown by electron beam deposition of an amorphous Si (thickness 1.3 nm)/Fe (thickness 0.5 nm) multilayer, followed by CFA or RTA processes at temperatures varying from 600 to 800 • C. Details of the material fabrication processes are presented elsewhere [2][3][4]. The formation of the semiconducting β-FeSi 2 phase was identified by x-ray diffraction measurements [4].…”

“…The polycrystalline β-FeSi 2 films studied in this work were grown by electron beam deposition of an amorphous Si (thickness 1.3 nm)/Fe (thickness 0.5 nm) multilayer, followed by CFA or RTA processes at temperatures varying from 600 to 800 • C. Details of the material fabrication processes are presented elsewhere [2][3][4]. The formation of the semiconducting β-FeSi 2 phase was identified by x-ray diffraction measurements [4]. The silicide films were prepared as rectangles with dimensions 4 × 7 mm 2 on undoped silicon substrates of resistivity high enough (ρ > 3000 cm) to enable coplanar measurements for electrical characterization of the films without a contribution of the substrate to the measured signal.…”

“…In our laboratory [2], we have employed a novel technique of ultrahigh-vacuum deposition of alternating amorphous Si/Fe ultrathin layers in conjunction with conventional furnace annealing (CFA) or rapid thermal annealing (RTA) to form by solidphase epitaxy β-FeSi 2 thin films exhibiting mobility up to 100 cm 2 V −1 s −1 . Correlated experimental techniques, such as x-ray diffraction measurements, Raman, infrared and ellipsometric spectroscopies and Hall measurements were used to arrive at definite conclusions regarding the experimental conditions for preparing silicides of the higher quality [3,4].…”

Effect of rapid thermal annealing on the structure, microstructure and magnetic properties of Fe thin films

“…These laths are FeSi 2 nanoisland patterns formed on the surface of Si 〈100〉 due to the reaction between the film and substrate. Thermally annealed Fe thin films grown on Si 〈111〉 substrate at 550 °C have shown self assembled nano-islands earlier [16][17][18]. Annealed transition metal films such as Co, Mn and Ti grown on Si have also shown similar self ordered nano-islands such as CoSi 2 , MnSi 2 and TiSi 2 [18].…”