RARE-EARTH METAL SILICIDE NANOSTRUCTURES ON Si(001) SURFACE

Abstract

Many rare-earth metals can react with Si atoms to form rare-earth metal silicides, which have a high conductivity and a low Schottky barrier on the n-type Si substrate. The investigations of the rare-earth metal silicide nanostructures self-assembled on the Si (001) surface are reviewed in this paper. The growth behaviors of Er silicide nanostructures are studied as the functions of annealing temperature, annealing time and Er coverage. The crystalline structures of the nanowires and nanoislands, the influence of substrate surface on the formation of nanostructures, and the shape transitions occuring during growth are analyzed comprehensively, which make contributions to the silicide nanostructure growth with the controlled structures and size-distributions. Furthermore, recent study progresses have been reported for the electrical and electronic properties of the rare-earth metal silicide nanowires.