Determination of silicon vacancy in ion-beam synthesized -FeSi

Maeda, Yoshihito; Ichikawa, Takayuki*; Jonishi, Takafumi*; Narumi, Kazumasa

Using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), we can deduce the concentration of Si vacancy and its depth profile in the -FeSi layer and find confirmation of the effect of the thermal annealing on reduction of the Si vacancy. The concentration of Si vacancy at the inside of -FeSi is reduced after the long annealing. Contrary to the inside, at the interface the Si vacancy remains at 1.5 at% even after the annealing for 360 min. Moreover we find consistency of our analysis of Si vacancy on an evident correlation between the reduction of Si vacancy and improvement of crystallinity (decrease of the ) by the annealing.