INFLUENCE OF CONVENTIONAL FURNACE AND RAPID THERMAL ANNEALING ON THE QUALITY OF POLYCRYSTALLINE BETA-FESI2 THIN-FILMS GROWN FROM VAPOR-DEPOSITED FE SI MULTILAYERS/

Thin films of polycrystalline beta-FeSi2 were grown on (100) Si substr ates of high resistivity by electron beam evaporation of Si/Fe ultrath in multilayers and subsequent annealing by conventional vacuum furnace (CVF) and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) for 1 h and 30 s, respectivel y, in the temperature range from 600 to 900 degrees C. X-ray diffracti on, Raman spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, resistivity and Ha ll measurements were employed for characterization of the silicide lay ers quality in terms of the annealing conditions. For the silicide lay ers prepared by CVF annealing, although the grain size increases with increasing the annealing temperature, the optimum temperature to obtai n the higher material quality (carrier mobility of the order of 100 cm (2) Vs(-1) and carrier concentration of about 1 X 10(17) cm(-3)) is ab out 700 degrees C. At higher annealing temperatures, the quality of th e material is degraded due to the presence of the oxide Fe2O3. In the case of the silicides prepared by RTA, the quality of the material is improved progressively with increasing the annealing temperature up to 900 degrees C. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.