Epitaxial growth of silver on Br-passivated Si 111/substrates under high vacuum

Ag thin films ;125 nm.were deposited on Br-passivated vicinal 48 miscut. Si 111. surfaces at room temperature under high vacuum conditions. The films have been characterized by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry RBS.and channeling, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy and diffraction measurements. Thew111xaxis of the Ag epilayer is tilted from the substratew111xorientation by 0.48 towards the substrate surface normal. The films are grainy with a mosaic spread of 0.748. The crystal quality of the Ag layer improves and the mosaic spread decreases to 0.378 upon annealing in high vacuum at higher temperatures 400 and 5008C.as observed from RBSrchanneling and high resolution X-ray diffraction measurements. The tilt angle of the Agw111xaxis and the layer strain also decrease to some extent upon annealing at 5008C. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved