Ion beam induced epitaxial crystallization of iron disilicides studied by conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy

The formation of iron disilicides by ion implantation at room temperature and the subsequent ion beam induced epitaxial crystallization process was studied by conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy. Implantation with 195 keV Fe ions with doses from 7 x 1015cm-2 to 2 x 1017cm-2 at room temperature leads to an amorphized top layer of about 300 nm thickness. The concentration profiles determined by Auger electron sputter depth profiling have maximum iron concentrations from 0.7 at.% for the lowest dose up to 21.1 at.% for the highest dose at about 100 nm depth. The Mössbauer spectra show similar broad quadrupole doublets for each dose which could not be attributed to any known amorphous or crystalline iron silicide phase. The subsequent irradiation with 1 x 1016cm-2 500 keV Si ions at 350°C induces the formation of iron disilicide phases and the crystallization of the Si substrates. For the samples containing the lowest iron content of 0.7, 2 and 5 x 1016cm-2 the metastable g-FeSi2 is produced whereas for doses of 1 x 1017cm-2 and higher the formation of a phase mixture of a- and b-FeSi2 is found.