Fe3Si films are deposited onto the Si(111) wafer using sputtering with parallel facing targets. Surface modification of the deposited Fe3Si film is conducted by using a microwave plasma treatment under an Ar atmosphere at different powers of 50, 100 and, 150 W. After the Ar plasma treatment, the crystallinity of the coated Fe3Si films is enhanced, in which the orientation peaks, including (220), (222), (400), and (422) of the Fe3Si are sharpened. The extinction rule suggests that the B2–Fe3Si crystallites are the film’s dominant composition. The stoichiometry of the Fe3Si surfaces is marginally changed after the treatment. An increase in microwave power damages the surface of the Fe3Si films, resulting in the generation of small pinholes. The roughness of the Fe3Si films after being treated at 150 W is insignificantly increased compared to the untreated films. The untreated Fe3Si films have a hydrophobic surface with an average contact angle of 101.70°. After treatment at 150 W, it turns into a hydrophilic surface with an average contact angle of 67.05° because of the reduction in the hydrophobic carbon group and the increase in the hydrophilic oxide group. The hardness of the untreated Fe3Si is ~9.39 GPa, which is kept at a similar level throughout each treatment power.
In this research, β-FeSi2 thin films were manufactured onto Si(111) wafer substrates through the usage of radio-frequency magnetron sputtering (RFMS) method at 2.66 × 10−1 Pa of sputtering pressure. The substrate temperatures were varied
at 500 °C, 560 °C, and 600 °C. The Raman lines of the β-FeSi2 fabricated at 500 °C revealed the peaks at the positions of ~174 cm−1, ~189 cm−1, ~199 cm−1, ~243 cm−1, ~278 cm−1,
and ~334 cm−1. For the higher substrate temperatures of 560 °C and 600 °C, the Raman peaks of ~189 cm−1, ~243 cm−1, and ~278 cm−1 were shifted toward higher Raman positions. The surface view of the films was observed
with several grains over the β-FeSi2 film surface at all substrate temperatures. The average grain size of the films for the samples deposited at 500 °C and 560 °C was in the range of 28 to 30 nm, where the size was enlarged to 36 nm at 600 °C of substrate
temperature. The root mean square roughness were 10.19 nm, 10.84 nm, and 13.67 nm for the β-FeSi2 film surface prepared at the substrate temperatures of 500 °C, 560 °C, and 600 °C, respectively. The contact angle (CA) values were
99.25°, 99.80°, and 102.00° for the created samples at 500 °C, 560 °C, and 600 °C, respectively. As the acquired CA values, all β-FeSi2 samples exhibited a hydrophobic property with CA in the
range of 90° to 150°. Consequently, the produced β-FeSi2 film surface employing the RFMS method indicated a potential to be employed in a hydrophobic coating application.
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