Investigation of nanostructural and electronic properties of silicides intermetallic in Mo/Si interfaces of periodic multilayers and bilayer structures

The phase composition of periodic Mo/Si multilayers with different thicknesses of silicon and molybdenum layers, and bilayer films with the combination of Mo–on–Si and Si–on–Mo with varying thicknesses of the upper layers (Mo or Si) were investigated. X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy were used for the investigation of phases and microstructure of periodic multilayer. Core-levels and valence-bands X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was performed for the study of electronic structure and phase composition of surface and interfaces in bilayer films. Although the intermetallic silicide phases (Mo 5 Si 3 , Mo 3 Si and MoSi 2 ) in multilayer and bilayer systems evolved similar, differences were observed in specific phases compared to bilayer systems in the Mo–on–Si and Si–on–Mo sequences. The amorphous silicon layer in periodic multilayers was highly disordered as compared to the amorphous layer of silicon in bilayer films. This was originated to formation of specific silicide phases in the periodic multilayers and bilayers systems.