Phase Formation Sequence In The Pd-Gaas System

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe morphological aspects of ternary phase formation during the Pd-GaAs reaction have been studied by application of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Rutherford backscattering (RBS) techniques. The TEM images show that the first product phase, “phase I”, forms during deposition of Pd onto (100) GaAs and exhibits the preferred orientation [0001]I ∼ // [011]GaAs. In the presence of unreacted Pd, the second phase, “phase II”, nucleates at large-angle grain boundaries in the phase I film as the annealing temperature increases above ∼ 250°C Energy dispersive analysis of x-rays and RBS suggest that both phases I and II have nominal compositions in the range of Pd3GaAs to Pd4GaAs.