Structure of thin CrSi ₂ films on Si(0 0 1)

The morphology and texture of CrSi ₂ films grown on Si(0 0 1) is reported. The films have been prepared under ultra high vacuum conditions by reactive codeposition and by the template method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses have been performed to investigate the influence of the substrate temperature and the template thickness on the silicide texture and morphology. XRD evidences that the major part of CrSi ₂ crystallites grows with an orientation of CrSi ₂ (0 0 1)[1 0 0] ∥ Si(0 0 1)[1 1 0] within all present experiments. Considering the morphology and preferred orientation of the crystallites the substrate temperature of 700°C is determined to be optimal for the codeposition growth method. A further improvement of the CrSi ₂ (0 0 1) texture and an increase of the grain size by an order of magnitude is observed after deposition of 0.5nm Cr onto the Si(0 0 1) substrate at room temperature prior to the codeposition of Cr and Si at 700°C.