Formation of epitaxial Fe3−xSi1+x (0≤x≤1) silicides on Si(111)

Abstract

Epitaxial Fe3−xSi1+x films have been grown on Si(111) by codeposition at room temperature. Their structural and electronic properties have been investigated by means of low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), x-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD), and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). These films, with compositions ranging from Fe3Si to FeSi, exhibit a (1×1) LEED pattern. Both XPD and core level binding energy measurements indicate that single Fe3−xSi1+x phases (with 0<x<1), without bulk counterpart, can be stabilized by epitaxy on Si(111). The XPD experiment clearly shows that these Fe3−xSi1+x (0≤x≤1) films adopt the same cubic structure. Furthermore, the Si 2p, Fe 2p3/2, and Fe 3s core levels are slightly shifted to higher binding energies resulting from chemical effects and differences in local coordination when going from Fe3Si (DO3) to FeSi (CsCl). Multiplet splittings ΔE3s are observed in Fe 3s core-level XPS spectra for all Fe3−xSi1+x compounds except the FeSi (CsCl) one.