title: An investigation of the electrical and optical properties of thin iron layers grown on the epitaxial Si(111)-(2 × 2)-Fe phase and on an Si(111)7 × 7 surface.
abstract: Electrical and optical properties of thin iron layers grown at room temperature on the epitaxial silicide Si(111)-(2 × 2)-Fe phase and on an Si(111)7 × 7 surface were investigated using in situ Hall effect registration, atomic force microscopy, and optical spectroscopy. It was established that Si(111)-(2 × 2)-Fe phase has semiconducting properties with a 0.99 eV effective band gap and acts as a diffusion barrier for the deposited iron atoms, preventing intermixing with the substrate at room temperature. Peculiarities in the optical spectra of a sample with a 2 nm iron film grown on the Si(111)-(2 × 2)-Fe phase typical for both metal and semiconducting natures prove a conservation of the phase under the iron layer. The process of iron growth on the Si(111)-(2 × 2)-Fe phase is accompanied by the development of high stress in the subsurface area resulting in band dispersion changes. Apparently the tension reaches a maximum at an iron layer thickness of 1.35 nm, and a high effective hole mobility equal to 820  cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) was registered.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Automation and Control Processes of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russia.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Goroshko
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Galkin
authors.forename: D V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Fomin
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Gouralnik
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Vavanova