ABSTRACTThe Nd-disilicide, which exists only in a tetragonal or an orthorhombic structure, cannot be grown epitaxially on a Si(111) substrate. However, by adding Y and using channeled ion beam synthesis, hexagonal Nd0.32Y0.68Si1.7 epilayers with lattice constant of aepi = 0.3915 nm and cepi = 0.4152 nm and with good crystalline quality (χmin of Nd and Y is 3.5% and 4.3 % respectively) are formed in a Si(111) substrate. This shows that the addition of Y to the Nd-Si system forces the latter into a hexagonal structure. The epilayer is stable up to 950 °C; annealing at 1000 °C results in partial transformation into other phases. The formation, the structure and the thermal stability of this ternary silicide have been studied using Rutherford backscattering/channeling, x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy.
Glancing-incidence focussed ion beam milling: A coherent X-ray diffraction study of 3D nano-scale lattice strains and crystal defects