Surface and interface microstructural properties of Ru thin films grown onInSb (111) substrates at room temperature

Ru thin films were grown on p-InSb (111) substrates by the ion-beam-assiste d deposition method with the goal of producing a new kind of Ru/InSb hetero structures with high-quality heterointerfaces. Atomic force microscopy (AFM ) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements showed that the Ru films grown o n InSb substrates at room temperature were polycrystalline thin layers with very smooth surfaces. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and Rutherford bac kscattering measurements (RBS) showed that the composition of the as-grown film was Ru and that the Ru/InSb heterointerface had relatively sharp inter faces. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron-di ffraction measurements showed that the grown Ru film was a polycrystalline layer with small grain size. These results indicate that the Ru layer grown on p-InSb (111) can be used for stable contacts and metal electrodes with low resistivities in electronic devices such as metal-semiconductor field-e ffect-transistors and memory capacitor between electrodes based on InSb sub strates. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.