Epitaxial orientation and morphology of β-FeSi2 on (001) silicon

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Abstract
Epitaxially aligned films of β‐FeSi2 were grown on (001) silicon by reactive deposition epitaxy (RDE), molecular‐beam epitaxy (MBE), and solid‐phase epitaxy (SPE). Although the matching crystallographic faces, FeSi2 (100)/Si(001), remained invariant throughout this study, two different azimuthal orientations predominated, depending on the deposition mode and growth temperature. Films with the FeSi2[010]∥Si〈110〉 orientation (grown by RDE at typically 500 °C) were of a genuine large‐area single‐crystal structure; however, the surface morphology was rough due to islanding which always preceeded the formation of a continuous film. Films of the alternative azimuthal orientation FeSi2[010]∥Si〈100〉 (which were grown by SPE at typically 250 °C or by MBE at temperatures as low as 200 °C on top of an SPE‐grown template) have a much smoother surface morphology. However, there was some loss of purity in the epitaxial alignment at these extremely low temperatures. Excellent RHEED (reflection high‐energy electron diffraction) streak patterns were observed for all the films; the technique was used for the determination of azimuthal orientation. In addition, we have shown that it is possible to determine the entire heteroepitaxial relationship using RHEED.

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