Effects of source materials on fabrication of β-FeSi₂ thin films by RDE method

抄録

The reactive deposition epitaxial (RDE) growth method has been employed extensively in the β-FeSi₂ thin film growth. It has been already clarified also that the Fe/Si ratio of source materials affects on the quality of deposited β-FeSi₂ thin films by ion beam sputter deposition under high-vacuum condition. On the other hand, to provide methods capable of depositing a high-quality β-FeSi₂ thin films inexpensively are important as well. In this study, we used a conventional vacuum deposition system and a few different kinds of iron silicides of Fe₂Si, α-FeSi₂, and ε-FeSi, which each contains Si, as the source materials in the RDE growth. We found that the depositing Fe₂Si onto heated Si substrate helps improving the film flatness and the electric properties of the obtained β-FeSi₂ thin films compared to that of Fe-deposited films, even at the relatively low vacuum depositing.