Sputter etching of Si substrate to synthesize highly oriented -FeSi films

Igarashi, Shinichi; Katsumata, Toshinobu; Haraguchi, Masaharu; Saito, Takeru; Yamaguchi, Kenji; Yamamoto, Hiroyuki; Hojo, Kiichi

We have evaluated the crystal structure of the -FeSi films formed with various sputter etching of Si substrate. Ne sputter etching of Si (100) substrate was performed with ion energies of 1, 3, and 10 keV. After each etching, the substrate was annealed at a temperature of 1073 K for 30 min. The -FeSi films of 100 nm in thickness were formed at 973 K with the amount of deposited Fe, 30 nm. X-ray diffraction revealed that these films have polycrystalline -FeSi structure but strong preferential orientation aligned as -FeSi (100) // Si (100). Furthermore, the oriented structure of the film was improved by lowering the incident energy of Ne.