Hafnium silicide formation on Si(001)

Abstract

Thick (~50 nm) films of Hf were evaporated onto bare and oxidized Si(001) samples, and thin (~monolayer) films of Hf were evaporated onto clean Si(001)-(2x1) surfaces. Upon annealing to 1000$^/circ$C, films of HfSi2 were formed after reaction times that depended upon the surface condition of the substrate before deposition. The chemical state of the reacted surfaces were characterized using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and the shifts in binding energy upon silicide formation were recorded. Even for thick films, low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) revealed that the (2x1) pattern of the Si substrate returned, suggesting that 3-dimensional islanding of the HfSi2 film had occurred. The islanding behavior was confirmed for thin films using LEED and x-ray standing waves. Streaking in the LEED patterns for the thick films suggest that the island morphology is influenced by the underlying Si substrate.