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A study of the formation of yttrium silicides epitaxially grown on Si(111)
Author(s) -
Rogero C.,
Polop C.,
Sacedón J. L.,
Martín Gago J. A.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.1874
Subject(s) - silicide , epitaxy , annealing (glass) , yttrium , materials science , crystallography , atmospheric temperature range , analytical chemistry (journal) , silicon , chemistry , nanotechnology , metallurgy , layer (electronics) , physics , thermodynamics , chromatography , oxide
We present an investigation of the growth of ultrathin yttrium silicide films (YSi 2 ) epitaxially grown on n‐type Si(111) as a function of the thermal treatment. Combining STM images with a quantitative spot profile LEED analysis we have studied the crystalline quality of the YSi 2− x (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3) and we have related it to the silicide formation temperature. We have distinguished a short temperature range for the formation of the two‐dimensional p(1 × 1) YSi 2 , and three growth regimes for the three‐dimensional (√3 × √3)R30° YSi 1.7 . For annealing temperatures lower than 375°C the silicide is not completely formed; at around 420°C the surface exhibits long atomically flat terraces, and for temperatures higher than 525°C a significant increase in the number of defects takes place. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.