Cu/Si(001) epitaxial growth: role of the epitaxial silicide formation in the structure and the morphology

Surface morphological evolution during annealing of epitaxial Cu(001) layers

“…where r = r 1 − r 2 is the distance between positions r 1 and r 2 , and h͑r 1 ͒ and h͑r 2 ͒ are the heights at r 1 and r 2 , respectively. 3,12,30 Exemplary G͑r͒ curves are plotted in Fig. 3͑a͒ for a 24-nm-thick as-deposited and annealed layer.…”

“…[8][9][10] A detailed understanding of the processes that determine the microstructural and surface morphological evolution is critical for these applications and the development of a process that controllably alters the surface morphology is desirable. Various researchers have grown epitaxial Cu on Si͑001͒, 9,[11][12][13][14][15][16] Si͑111͒, 7,13,17 and MgO͑001͒, 6,18,19 and have studied the microstructure by x-ray 3,8,9,[13][14][15][16]19 and electron diffractions, 1,6,8,[12][13][14][15][16][17]20,21 and the surface morphology by ex situ atomic force microscopy, which is, however, affected by surface oxidation. 22 Epitaxial Cu͑001͒ layers grown on hydrogen-terminated Si͑001͒ by thermal evaporation at room temperature exhibit atomically rough surfaces with 5-30 nm wide mounds and a root mean square ͑rms͒ roughness of 1-2 nm.…”

The growth of metastable fcc Fe78Ni22 thin films on H-Si(1 0 0) substrates suitable for focused ion beam direct magnetic patterning

“…Our experiments indicate that the Fe does not grow epitaxially on Si(100), but it is possible to grow a Cu(100) buffer layer on Si(100) [12][13][14]. The Cu buffer layer grows in the desired (100) crystallographic orientation when the Si(100) surface is unreconstructed, hydrogen-terminated (H-Si), which is most commonly achieved by etching in hydrofluoric acid (HF) [12][13][14][15][16][17]. The lattice constants of Cu and unreconstructed Si lead to a significant (33.5%) lattice mismatch; however, rotation by 45° decreases the lattice mismatch to 6%.…”

“…Silicon has been the most commonly used material in the semiconductor industry and scientific research for decades, not only for its electronic properties but also because of the well-known processes for preparation of very well defined substrates with almost perfect crystallographic properties. Our experiments indicate that the Fe does not grow epitaxially on Si(100), but it is possible to grow a Cu(100) buffer layer on Si(100) [12][13][14]. The Cu buffer layer grows in the desired (100) crystallographic orientation when the Si(100) surface is unreconstructed, hydrogen-terminated (H-Si), which is most commonly achieved by etching in hydrofluoric acid (HF) [12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

“…AES in d) marks the details of C and Ca peaks measured after the deposition of Ca-containing Cu (magenta), Cu (violet) and Fe78Ni22 (green), respectively.We deposited Cu on both H-Si(100) substrates prepared chemically and in UHV. We grew 130-nm thick films because at this thickness we found a right balance between the film morphology[13] and the deposition time, which was with our evaporators below 6 hours. The deposition of Cu resulted in LEED patterns which confirm that the as-grown Cu film on the chemically treated substrate was very similar to the one on the H-Si prepared in UHV [Figure 1b),f)].…”