Phase Formation and Electronic Structure Peculiarities in the Al1 – xSix Film Composites under the Conditions of Magnetron and Ion-Beam Sputtering

Abstract

The peculiarities of the phase composition and electronic structure of aluminum–silicon composite films near the Al_0.75Si_0.25 composition obtained by the magnetron and ion-beam sputtering methods on a Si(100) silicon substrate are studied using the X-ray diffraction techniques and ultrasoft X-ray emission spectroscopy. In addition to silicon nanocrystals of about 25 nm in size, an ordered solid solution corresponding to the previously unknown Al₃Si phase is formed in magnetron sputtering on a polycrystalline Al matrix. Films obtained by ion-beam sputtering of the composite target are found to be monophasic and contained only one phase of an ordered solid solution of aluminum silicide Al₃Si of the Pm3m cubic system with the primitive cell parameter a = 4.085 Å. However, subsequent pulsed photon annealing of the composite with different radiation doses from 145 to 216 J/cm² gives rise to the partial decomposition of the Al₃Si phase with the formation of free metallic aluminum and silicon nanocrystals with sizes in the range from 50 to 100 nm, depending on the pulsed photon radiation dose.