Sputter etching effect of the substrate on the microstructure of β-FeSi2 thin film prepared by ion beam sputter deposition method

Microstructure and interdiffusion behaviour of β-FeSi2flat islands grown on Si(111) surfaces

“…These results are very interesting, because up to now many reports have described the formation of not only low-quality -FeSi 2 films but also undulating interfaces between the iron disilicide and the Si substrate owing to the complicated crystalline structure of -FeSi 2 with several variants (Massalski et al, 1992;Cho et al, 2009) and the interdiffusion of Fe and Si atoms during -FeSi 2 formation (Tu & Mayer, 1978). Moreover, recent studies have reported that the nanostructure of -FeSi 2 and its interface with the Si substrate strongly affect the optoelectronic properties of the -FeSi 2 /Si system (Sasase et al, 2006(Sasase et al, , 2007. Now, we discuss why the results mentioned above have occurred.…”