Phase selective synthesis of gadolinium suicide films on Si(111) using an interfacial SiO₂ layer

The phase selective synthesis of gadolinium silicide films on a Si(111) substrate using an interfacial SiO₂ layer was reported. Systematic investigations on clean and oxidized Si substrates were done by using in situ reflection of high energy electron diffraction, x-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy of the silicides formed with post annealing in order to take account of the role of the interfacial silica layer. It was found that the structural transformation of the initial GdSi_1.7 hexagonal phase into the GdSi₂ orthorhombic phase was enhanced by the silica layer above the decomposition temperature of SiO₂(∼800°C).