Facing target sputtered iron-silicide thin film

The FeSix thin films with the flatness to an atomic scale for mechanical and optical applications can be grown by a facing target sputtering method. Optical properties indicate the films contain nano-crystalline FeSi2. The nano-indentation hardness of 10 GPa was obtained. An interesting point is that Young's modulus is larger than that of the carbon-based materials with the same hardness. This means that the FeSix is more elastic, which could be characteristic of the chemical bonding of the FeSi2 with the large contribution of d-electrons. Furthermore, results of the Hall measurement at room temperature shows that the films have p-type conductivity, a carrier concentration of p = 2.49 × 1020 cm− 3 and a Hall mobility of μ = 6.42 cm2 V− 1 s− 1.