Epitaxial growth of CrSi 2 on Si(0 0 1) by template technique

Abstract

This paper reports on the structural investigation of CrSi 2 layers grown on Si(0 0 1) by MBE using the template technique. The nominal thickness of the thin Cr layer, deposited to create the CrSi 2 template, was varied from 0.2 to 0.5 nm. The highest degree of texture was observed in silicide films, which were grown on the template formed by the deposition of 0.4 nm Cr. This film consists of regions with two different morphologies. Correspondingly two different epitaxial orientations were observed. The major part of the CrSi 2 crystallites grows with CrSi 2(0 0 1)[1 0 0]∥Si(0 0 1)[1 1 0]. A smaller part of the layer consists of crystallites oriented with CrSi 2 (1 1 2)[1 1 ̄ 0]||(0 0 1)[1 1 0] . Two perpendicular domains were observed for each orientation, which can be explained according to the crystal symmetry of the film and the substrate.