Irradiation effect in the fabrication of ErO film on the sputter-treated Si

Fujita, Masaya*; Asaoka, Hidehito  ; Yamaguchi, Kenji

The ion beam sputter deposition method is capable of fabricating highly-oriented ErO thin film on crystalline Si substrate at 700 C, by bombarding ErO target with O ion beam. However, there always exists silicide phase (ErSi) due to direct reaction between sputtered Er atoms and the Si substrate. In order to find ways to prevent, or slow down the reaction of Si with Er, the dependence of the sputter-etching conditions of the substrate, which are conducted prior to deposition to remove surface impurities, on the film crystalline properties was investigated. In the experiment, two sputter-etching conditions, (a) fluence 3.710 ions cm (normally employed condition) and (b) 3.710 ions cm, were employed. The results of the film structure observed by XRD analysis indicated that the silicide phase was present irrespective of the fluence conditions employed.