THE GROWTH AND CHARACTERIZATION OF IRON SILICIDES ON SI(100)

We have studied and characterized different iron silicides grown in situ on a Si(100)-2 X 1 surface. Silicide films have been produced both by solid-phase epitaxy, and by reactive deposition epitaxy, keeping the substrate at several hundreds of degrees during the growth. The grown silicide layer was characterized by different surface sensitive techniques. Two different types of silicides (FeSi and FeSi2) were identified by directly determining the atomic stoichiometry of the compound, as well as by studying the evolution of the characteristic plasmon loss structure of the compounds. Finally, ISS has revealed the existence of a Si-enriched layer on top of the silicide grown by solid-phase epitaxy.