Formation and Characterization of Manganese Silicide on Si(111) and Si(100) Substrates

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The electronic structure of the interface formation at Mn/Si at room temperature (RT) and the growth of manganese silicide were studied by using photoemission spectroscopy (PES) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) with synchrotron radiation. The Mn coverage dependence of the Si 2p and the Mn 3p core-level spectra revealed that the growth of Mn on Si(111)-7 × 7 at RT started in a layer-by-layer growth at a coverage of less than 0.5 ML (monolayer). Mn 2p XAS spectra also showed no reaction between Mn and Si at RT. Three thin manganese silicide samples were prepared by using solid phase epitaxy at 610 ◦C (MSS), reactive deposition epitaxy at 290 ◦C for Si(111) and at 350 ◦C for Si(100) (MSR) and post annealing the MSR sample at 610 ◦C (MSP) on the Si(111) and the Si(100) substrates. The LOW ENERGY ELECTRON DIFFRACTION (LEED) pattern and the fine structure in the Mn 2p XAS spectra showed that the phases of the MSS, the MSR, and the MSP samples were the same. Emissions at the Fermi energy in the valence-band (VB) PES spectra and the line shape of Si 2p core-level photoemission spectra also showed the formation of metallic MnSi.