Effects of annealing temperature on the structure and surface feature of BaSi2 films grown on Si(111) substrates

The optimum growth temperature is determined for the epitaxial growth of semiconducting orthorhombic BaSi2 films on Si(111) substrates by magnetron sputtering (MS) and annealing in vacuum. The structure and morphological feature of the films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Crystal planes of BaSi2 show preferred orientation. The optimum annealing temperature is 800 °C, 12 hours is a feasible annealing time.