Structural investigation of Fe silicide fiil s grown by pulsed laser deposition

Pulsed laser deposition was used to grow epitaxial p-FeSis films on Si(ll1) (1X1) and Si(ll1) (7X7) with the following epitaxial orientations: P-FeSi2(OOl)//Si(lll) with @-FeSi~OlO]//Si(llO) and three rotational variants’silicide growth was influenced by substrate temperature and deposition rate, but not by the structure of the starting surface. Films containing both P-FeSia and FeSi were formed at low substrate temperatures and high deposition rates, while films containing only /l-FeSi, were formed at higher substrate temperatures and lower deposition rates. FeSi grains had the following epitaxial relationship to the Si substrate, FeSi(lll)//Si(lll) with FeSi(ilO)//Si(ll2). The microstructure of the silicide films varied with film thickness, as did the roughness at the silicide/Si interface. These results suggest that an Fe-rich environment was created during the growth of the silicide films.