title: Europium Silicide - a Prospective Material for Contacts with Silicon.
abstract: Metal-silicon junctions are crucial to the operation of semiconductor devices: aggressive scaling demands low-resistive metallic terminals to replace high-doped silicon in transistors. It suggests an efficient charge injection through a low Schottky barrier between a metal and Si. Tremendous efforts invested into engineering metal-silicon junctions reveal the major role of chemical bonding at the interface: premier contacts entail epitaxial integration of metal silicides with Si. Here we present epitaxially grown EuSi2/Si junction characterized by RHEED, XRD, transmission electron microscopy, magnetization and transport measurements. Structural perfection leads to superb conductivity and a record-low Schottky barrier with n-Si while an antiferromagnetic phase invites spin-related applications. This development opens brand-new opportunities in electronics.
authors.affiliation: National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Kurchatov Square 1, Moscow 123182, Russia.
authors.forename: Dmitry V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Averyanov
authors.affiliation: National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Kurchatov Square 1, Moscow 123182, Russia.
authors.forename: Andrey M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Tokmachev
authors.affiliation: National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Kurchatov Square 1, Moscow 123182, Russia.
authors.forename: Christina G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Karateeva
authors.affiliation: National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Kurchatov Square 1, Moscow 123182, Russia.
authors.forename: Igor A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Karateev
authors.affiliation: National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Kurchatov Square 1, Moscow 123182, Russia.
authors.forename: Eduard F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Lobanovich
authors.affiliation: National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Kurchatov Square 1, Moscow 123182, Russia.
authors.forename: Grigory V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Prutskov
authors.affiliation: National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Kurchatov Square 1, Moscow 123182, Russia.
authors.forename: Oleg E
authors.initials: OE
authors.lastname: Parfenov
authors.affiliation: National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Kurchatov Square 1, Moscow 123182, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexander N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Taldenkov
authors.affiliation: National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Kurchatov Square 1, Moscow 123182, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexander L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Vasiliev
authors.affiliation: National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Kurchatov Square 1, Moscow 123182, Russia.
authors.forename: Vyacheslav G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Storchak