Low-temperature ion-induced epitaxial growth of alfa-FeSi2 and cubic FeSi2 in Si

Abstract

Ion-beam-induced epitaxial crystallization of amorphous Si implanted with Fe to 18 at. % peak concentration was studied. The structure of the specimen was characterized using transmission electron microscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. Both cubic FeSi, and a-FeSi, were formed in epitaxy with the Si matrix with two types of orientations (fully aligned and twinned). The twins of a-FeSi, and those of cubic FeSi, were found to have exactly the same type of epitaxial relationship as for the aligned ones. The thermodynamically stable /3-FeS& is not formed, demonstrating that ion-beam-induced crystallization can lead to preferential phase formation as well as to epitaxy.