Silicide Formation and Schottky Barrier of Rare-Earth Metals on SI

The objectives of this program are to investigate the electrical properties and growth characteristics of rare-earth silicides that potentially form low energy barriers on n-type Si. A more general objective is to set up Rutherford backscattering spectrometry at UCSD. For the investigation of rare- earth silicides, we concentrate working on ErSi2 all rare-earth silicides are similar in characteristics and properties, Er is slightly less reactive with oxygen. More recently GdSi2 has also been investigated. We report here the results of our investigation. Generally speaking, we believe that the major problems of rare-earth silicides have been solved. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry is now on-line at UCSD.