Growth of Thin Cadmium Arsenide Films by Magnetron Sputtering and Their Structure

Thin (~50 nm) cadmium arsenide films have been grown by magnetron sputtering on single-crystal silicon and sapphire substrates. Using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy, the composition of the films has been shown to correspond to the Cd3As2 stoichiometry. Along with the α-Cd3As2 phase, the films contained trace levels of the α'-Cd3As2 phase. Annealing at 520 K led to recrystallization and the formation of [112] textured films on single-crystal silicon substrates. In the annealed films, the crystallite size evaluated using the Debye–Scherrer equation was ~30 nm.