Morphological and structural characterizations of CrSi2 nanometric films deposited by laser ablation

✍ Scribed by A.P. Caricato; G. Leggieri; A. Luches; F. Romano; G. Barucca; P. Mengucci; S.A. Mulenko

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 374 KB
• Volume: 254
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0169-4332
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2007.09.026

✦ Synopsis

The structure and morphology of chromium disilicide (CrSi 2 ) nanometric films grown on h1 0 0i silicon substrates both at room temperature (RT) and at 740 K by pulsed laser ablation are reported. A pure CrSi 2 crystal target was ablated with a KrF excimer laser in vacuum ($3 Â 10 À5 Pa). Morphological and structural properties of the deposited films were investigated using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GID), X-ray reflectivity (XRR), scanning (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). From RBS analysis, the films' thickness resulted of $40 nm. This value is in agreement with the value obtained from XRR and TEM analysis ($42 and $38 nm, respectively). The films' composition, as inferred from Rutherford Universal Manipulation Program simulation of experimental spectra, is close to stoichiometric CrSi 2 . GID analysis showed that the film deposited at 740 K is composed only by the CrSi 2 phase. The RT deposited sample is amorphous, while GID and TEM analyses evidenced that the film deposited at 740 K is poorly crystallised. The RT deposited film exhibited a metallic behaviour, while that one deposited at 740 K showed a semiconductor behaviour down to 227 K.