Epitaxial growth of silicon on CoSi sub 2 (001)/Si(001)

Epitaxial Si layers have been grown under a variety of growth conditions on CoSi{sub 2}(001) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The structural properties of the Si overgrowth were studied by in-situ Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED), as well as ex-situ MeV {sup 4}He{sup +} ion channeling and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM). Strong influences of the CoSi{sub 2} surface reconstruction on the Si overgrowth have been observed. RHEED studies show islanding growth Si on the CoSi{sub 2} (001) ({radical}2 {times} {radical}2)R45 reconstructed surface, but smooth growth of Si on the CoSi{sub 2}(001) ({radical}2 {times} {radical}2)R45 reconstructed surface, under the same growth conditions. The growth of Si on thin layers of CoSi{sub 2} (2nm-6nm) with ({radical}2 {times} {radical}2)R45 reconstructed surface at 160{degrees}C results in high crystalline quality for the Si top layer, as indicated by good channeling minimum yeild ({chi}{sub min} < 6%), but cross-sectional TEM shows that the CoSi{sub 2} layers are discontinuous. We also report preliminary results on Si grown on a 2 {times} 2 reconstructed CoSi{sub 2}(001) surface. 81 refs., 5 figs