Effect of High-Temperature Annealing on Epitaxially Grown Ru Silicide Thin Films
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Effect of High-Temperature Annealing on Epitaxially Grown Ru Silicide Thin Films A. N. Fouda 1,2
&
E. A. Eid 3
Received: 2 August 2019 / Accepted: 25 November 2019 # Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract Epitaxial growth was carried out to grow Ruthenium (Ru) silicide films. Films were grown on Si (100) substrate utilizing molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method. Firstly, the low-temperature Si buffer layer was grown at relatively low temperature of 400 °C to accommodate lattice strain and Ru silicides epilayers were grown at 750 °C. Secondly, the effect of high-temperature annealing of 1050 °C on the grown film was depicted. To investigate the surface morphology as well as microstructural characteristics atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy TEM, and x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements were employed. Only the peaks of the Ru2Si3 phase were recorded in XRD measurements. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to reveal the chemical and electronic composition of Ru silicide films, and a detectable change in the composition ratio toward the formation of Ru2Si3 was established after annealing. Additionally, Raman spectroscopy was utilized to evaluate the characteristics modes of entity phases. Keywords Silicides . X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy . Growth parameters . Ru . MBE . Raman spectra
1 Introduction Silicides are compatible with Si nanotechnology and have nano-electronics, microelectronics, spin-electronic, thermoelectric, and optoelectronic applications [1–5]. The focus point in semiconducting silicide is their high optical absorption, carrier mobility, direct band gap, and thermal stability. Chen et al. demonstrated that metal silicides exhibited special chemical and physical properties, i.e. low electrical resistivity, low density, mechanical stability, high thermal stability, and low work function. Such metal silicide materials are applicable in thermoelectric power, catalysis, integrated circuits, and optoelectronics [6]. Phases of Ru2Si3 and Os2Si3 provide modified band gap engineering with emission extended from
* A. N. Fouda [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Physics Department, Faculty of Science and Arts, King Abdul Aziz University, Rabigh 344, Saudi Arabia
2
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
3
Department of Basic Science, Higher Technological Institute, 10th of Ramadan City 44629, Egypt
the visible blue to near infra-red [7, 8]. However, band gap engineering can modify the band gap and it was found that the lattice deformation modifies the silicides band gap. Band gap engineering is a powerful technique for the fabrication of new semiconductor devices with unique capabilities, ranging from solid-state photomultipliers to resonant tunneling transistors [9]. For optoelectronics, direct band gap metal silicides offered a promising functional material. Ru silicide is one of transition metals silicides which is applicable in thermoelectric energy conversion [10–12]. The list includes silicid
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