Structural investigation of Fe silicide films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Pulsed laser deposition was used to grow epitaxial β‐FeSi2 films on Si(111) (1×1) and Si(111) (7×7) with the following epitaxial orientations: β‐FeSi2(001)//Si(111) with β‐FeSi2[010]//Si〈110〉 and three rotational variants. Silicide growth was influenced by substrate temperature and deposition rate, but not by the structure of the starting surface. Films containing both β‐FeSi2 and FeSi were formed at low substrate temperatures and high deposition rates, while films containing only β‐FeSi2 were formed at higher substrate temperatures and lower deposition rates. FeSi grains had the following epitaxial relationship to the Si substrate, FeSi(111)//Si(111) with FeSi(110)//Si(112). The microstructure of the silicide films varied with film thickness, as did the roughness at the silicide/Si interface. These results suggest that an Fe‐rich environment was created during the growth of the silicide films.