The study of synthetic layered materials by x-ray diffraction

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:7236492

Xu, Z

Synthetic multilayer materials exhibit a variety of unique electronic, optical, mechanical and magnetic properties. In this dissertation the study of Fe/Si, Ti/Si and Pt/Co multilayer systems are reported. Metal silicide formation at the metal-silicon interface is of great interest to the electronic device industry. Fe/Si and Ti/Si multilayers are two representative systems used to study the interfacial properties at a metal/silicon contact. Pt/Co multilayers exhibit unique magnetic properties which strongly depend on the interfacial microstructure determined by the film preparation procedures. Investigations of the three multilayer systems are performed using x-ray and soft x-ray diffraction. X-ray and soft x-ray diffraction are two of the most commonly used techniques to study the superlattice structures in multilayers. However, techniques to interpret the diffraction data are still a matter of debate. Most models used to date are too simplistic, and fits based on these models usually do not match the experimental diffraction patterns well. The authors have developed a model which is able to distinguish the coherent structure from the incoherent structure in the multilayer. In particular, the authors have used a dynamical theory to calculate the reflectivity of a multilayer having arbitrary interfacial profiles with a variable degree of randomness in the d spacing to simulate the incoherence. The interdiffusion kinetics of Fe/Si and Ti/Si interfaces upon low temperature annealing and the different microstructures of the Pt/Co interfaces under different sample preparation conditions have been characterized using our model.

• Research Organization: Oregon Univ., Eugene, OR (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7236492
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360202* -- Ceramics
Cermets
& Refractories-- Structure & Phase Studies
COBALT
COHERENT SCATTERING
DIFFRACTION
ELEMENTS
INTERFACES
IRON
LAYERS
METALS
MICROSTRUCTURE
PLATINUM
PLATINUM METALS
SCATTERING
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SUPERLATTICES
TITANIUM
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION