Capping of thin rare-earth silicide nanostructures on Si(111)
Rare-earth silicide nanostructures can be grown epitaxially on the Si(111) surface and form extremely low Schottky-barrier heights on n-type Si. However, a protective overlayer is required for device applications. Here, we study the capping of Tb silicide monolayer and bilayer nanostructures with a Si overlayer using scanning tunneling microscopy and (scanning) transmission electron microscopy. We find that the nanostructures remain mostly unaffected by room-temperature capping. The bilayer nanostructures can also be epitaxially capped by post-annealing for crystallization of the Si overlayer. In contrast, the capped monolayer is thermally unstable upon post-annealing and mostly transforms to epitaxially capped bilayer nanostructures.
Authors
- M. Franz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5669-2275)
- Kris Holtgrewe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6166-1254)
- Hüseyin Çelik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4635-4202)
- Milan Kubicki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7082-3668)
- M. Dähne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6364-8953)
- Markus Benjamin Bachler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3434-9846)
- Tolga Wagner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8490-6093)
- Sören Selve (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1972-4301)
- Michael Lehmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7733-326X)
Institutions
- Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (DE)
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- Technische Universität Berlin (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Applied Physics
- Published
- 2025-10-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0292867
- Primary Topic
- Semiconductor materials and interfaces
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00