Formation of vanadium silicide by high dose ion implantation

• Published in: Surface science Vol. 189; pp. 1143 - 1149
• Main Authors: Salvi, V.P., Narsale, A.M., Vidwans, S.V., Rangwala, A.A., Guzman, L., Dapor, M., Giunta, G., Calliari, L., Marchetti, F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.10.1987
• ISSN: 0039-6028; 1879-2758
• DOI: 10.1016/S0039-6028(87)80562-9

The vanadium silicide system has been found to be of increasing interest because one of the silicide phases viz. V 3Si with the A-15 structure is often accompanied by a high temperature superconductivity. We have studied the formation of vanadium silicide layers by high dose ion implantation. 30 keV 51V + ions were implanted at room temperature onto thermally evaporated a-Si films on thermally grown SiO 2 substrates. The samples were annealed in vacuum to study the possible evolution of V-Si phases. Both Seeman-Bohlin X-ray diffraction and Auger/sputter profiling techniques were used to analyse these samples. The observed Auger depth profile of the annealed samples shows a more uniform vanadium distribution as compared to the vanadium distribution in as-implanted samples, along with the changes in the Si L 2,3VV lineshape. The X-ray diffraction results show the formation of V 3Si, V 5Si 3 and VSi 2 phases. After annealing the sample in vacuum, a more ordered growth of V 3Si phase is found to be accompanied by an increase in VSi 2 phase. This has been related to the possible changes ocurring in the a-Si layers due to annealing of the sample.