Orientation relationships and morphologies in the MBE growth of CrSi2 films on (III) Si surfaces
Chromium disilicide is a semiconductor with a 0.3 eV bandgap. It has potential for applications in Si based infrared detectors. The CrSi2/Si system is a good candidate for epitaxy because of the low 0.1% lattice mismatch between the basal plane of CrSi2 and the (111) Si surface. Previous studies have reported that the growth of CrSi2 on (111) Si occurs as islands with orientation relationship. The work reported here is an extension of this previous study.In the present experiments, both (111) Si and 4°-off (111) Si were used as a substrates. After co-deposition of Cr and Si at room temperature in a MBE chamber, the deposited films was annealed in the same chamber at temperatures up to 720°C. Transmission electron microscopy diffraction and imaging were used to study the structure and morphology of the deposited films.