Application of Novel Epitaxy Techniques to the Growth of CrSi 2

CrSi 2 is of technological interest because it is a silicon-based semiconductor with a small band gap. Due to the lack of success with conventional molecular beam epitaxy of CrSi 2 on Si, growth on mesotaxy-produced template layers and allotaxy have been attempted. After removal of the Si capping layer, epitaxy of additional CrSi 2 on template layers formed by mesotaxy was found to be possible. However, single-crystal continuous films were not obtained, due at least in part to the presence of a network of cracks in the starting template. Allotaxy of CrSi 2 was found to allow the formation of large grains of CrSi 2 embedded in a single-crystal Si matrix, but coalescence of these grains into a continuous layer was not achieved.