Effect of Annealing on Surface Morphology and Wettability of NC-FeSi₂ Films Produced via Facing-Target Direct-Current Sputtering

Physical Properties of Fe3Si Films Coated through Facing Targets Sputtering after Microwave Plasma Treatment

“…Among those elements, Fe is an excellent element to merge with Si because both are abundant within the earth [2,3]. Iron silicide (FeSi) possesses various phases, ranging from the nonmagnetic metallic FeSi to the ferromagnetic iron silicide (Fe 3 Si), all with unique properties and potential applications of their own [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Fe 3 Si is an outstanding specimen among the phases of FeSi because Fe 3 Si owns the following striking features: an almost identical lattice constant to those of gallium arsenide (GaAs) [9], a slight lattice parameter misfit of −2.5% with FeSi 2 owning the β phase and 4.2% with Si [4,5,9,10], an impressive set of magnetic properties of a slight coercive field of 7.5 Oe and a comparatively high spin polarization of 45%, and an impressive thermal stability of over 800 K Curie temperature [5,9,11,12].…”

“…Fe 3 Si is an outstanding specimen among the phases of FeSi because Fe 3 Si owns the following striking features: an almost identical lattice constant to those of gallium arsenide (GaAs) [9], a slight lattice parameter misfit of −2.5% with FeSi 2 owning the β phase and 4.2% with Si [4,5,9,10], an impressive set of magnetic properties of a slight coercive field of 7.5 Oe and a comparatively high spin polarization of 45%, and an impressive thermal stability of over 800 K Curie temperature [5,9,11,12]. These features make Fe 3 Si attractive for the use in spin transistor application [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Aside from its magnetic properties, Fe 3 Si also has good physical properties such as high hardness and respectable corrosion resistance [13].…”

Wetting state and mechanical property alteration for the Fe3Si films using rapid thermal annealing under various temperatures

“…This is due to the merits of FTS. The facing targets provide a magnetic field that zones out plasma from the vicinity of the substrate holder [ [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] ]. This effectively prevents bombardment damage and reduces unnecessary thermal energy from the plasma during deposition [ [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] ].…”

“…Based on former studies linked to this present work, our research group epitaxially manufactured the Fe 3 Si films onto Si ((111)-orientation) wafers using the FTS [ 1 , 2 ]. The FTS layout comprises a couple of sputtering targets set far from a substrate holder while both targets face each other allowing the magnetic confinement to occur [ [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] ]. This setup allows the machine to produce high-density plasma under low pressure and minimize the plasma damage, to create a seamless film with miniscule stoichiometry error [ [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] ].…”

“…The FTS layout comprises a couple of sputtering targets set far from a substrate holder while both targets face each other allowing the magnetic confinement to occur [ [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] ]. This setup allows the machine to produce high-density plasma under low pressure and minimize the plasma damage, to create a seamless film with miniscule stoichiometry error [ [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] ]. The authors have recently reported the impact of microwave plasma etching under argon (Ar) atmosphere and variation of its power on the physical features of the Fe 3 Si films, where we discovered that the hydrophobic condition for the Fe 3 Si layer without etching turned into a hydrophilic condition after exposing to Ar etching [ 1 ].…”