Initial stages of high-temperature CaF2/Si(001) epitaxial growth studied by surface X-ray diffraction

J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2011 Apr;11(4):2990-6. doi: 10.1166/jnn.2011.3923.

Abstract

Surface X-ray diffraction was applied to study structure of the fluorite-silicon interface forming upon epitaxial growth of CaF2 on Si(001) surface kept at 750 degrees C. Samples with CaF2 coverage of 1.5-4 (110)-monolayers were grown and in-situ characterized using synchrotron radiation. The 3 x 1-like surface reconstruction was observed in agreement with the previous studies by electron diffraction. Interestingly, a well pronounced splitting of the fractional x 1/3 reflections was revealed. This splitting was ascribed to the effect of antiphase domain boundaries in the row-like structure of the interface layer. The in-plane integrated intensities were used to reconstruct two-dimensional atomic structure of the high-temperature CaF2/Si(001) interface.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Calcium Fluoride / chemistry*
  • Hot Temperature
  • Macromolecular Substances / chemistry
  • Materials Testing
  • Molecular Conformation
  • Nanostructures / chemistry*
  • Nanostructures / ultrastructure*
  • Silicon / chemistry*
  • Surface Properties
  • X-Ray Diffraction / methods*

Substances

  • Macromolecular Substances
  • Calcium Fluoride
  • Silicon