Phase and Texture of Er–Germanide Formed on Ge(001) Through a Solid-State Reaction

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Abstract
The phase and texture of of Er–germanide formed on Ge(001)Ge(001) through a solid-state reaction between Er thin films and Ge(001)Ge(001) via rapid thermal annealing (300– 600°C600°C ) were investigated. It was found that amorphous ErGe1.2ErGe1.2 forms at 300°C300°C , followed by the formation of AlB2AlB2 hexagonal ErGe1.5ErGe1.5 at 400– 500°C500°C and then orthorhombic ErGe1.8ErGe1.8 at 600°C600°C . X-ray diffraction pole figure measurement revealed that the ErGe1.5ErGe1.5 films formed at 400– 500°C500°C consist predominantly of epitaxial grains with an orientation relationship of ErGe1.5(11¯00)[0001]∕∕Ge(001)[011¯]ErGe1.5(11¯00)[0001]∕∕Ge(001)[011¯] , although the presence of a considerable amount of epitaxial grains with an orientation relationship of ErGe1.5(101¯2)[011¯0]∕∕Ge(001)[010]ErGe1.5(101¯2)[011¯0]∕∕Ge(001)[010] was also observed in the film formed at 400°C400°C . The germanide film formed at 600°C600°C was found to consist of randomly orientated orthorhombic ErGe1.8ErGe1.8 grains. Among the three different germanide phases, ErGe1.5ErGe1.5 showed minimum resistivity values as low as ∼19μΩcm∼19μΩcm .

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