Epitaxial growth and electrical transport properties of Cr{sub 2}GeC thin films

Journal Article · Mon Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVB.84.075424· OSTI ID:21596852

Eklund, Per ^[1]; Bugnet, Matthieu; Mauchamp, Vincent; Dubois, Sylvain; Tromas, Christophe; Jaouen, Michel; Cabioc'h, Thierry ^[1]; Jensen, Jens ^[2]; Piraux, Luc; Gence, Loiek ^[3]

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1. Institut Pprime, UPR 3346, Universite de Poitiers, SP2MI-Boulevard 3, Teleport 2-BP 30179, 86962 Futuroscope Chasseneuil Cedex (France)
2. Thin Film Physics Division, Linkoeping University, IFM, 581 83 Linkoeping (Sweden)
3. Institute of Condensed Matter and Nanosciences, Universite Catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain la Neuve (Belgium)

Cr{sub 2}GeC thin films were grown by magnetron sputtering from elemental targets. Phase-pure Cr{sub 2}GeC was grown directly onto Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}(0001) at temperatures of 700-800 deg. C. These films have an epitaxial component with the well-known epitaxial relationship Cr{sub 2}GeC(0001)//Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}(0001) and Cr{sub 2}GeC(1120)//Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}(1100) or Cr{sub 2}GeC(1120)//Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}(1210). There is also a large secondary grain population with (1013) orientation. Deposition onto Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}(0001) with a TiN(111) seed layer and onto MgO(111) yielded growth of globally epitaxial Cr{sub 2}GeC(0001) with a virtually negligible (1013) contribution. In contrast to the films deposited at 700-800 deg. C, the ones grown at 500-600 deg. C are polycrystalline Cr{sub 2}GeC with (1010)-dominated orientation; they also exhibit surface segregations of Ge as a consequence of fast Ge diffusion rates along the basal planes. The room-temperature resistivity of our samples is 53-66 {mu}{Omega}cm. Temperature-dependent resistivity measurements from 15-295 K show that electron-phonon coupling is important and likely anisotropic, which emphasizes that the electrical transport properties cannot be understood in terms of ground state electronic structure calculations only.

• OSTI ID: 21596852
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 84, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.84.075424; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1098-0121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CHROMIUM COMPOUNDS
DIFFUSION
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
ELECTRON-PHONON COUPLING
EPITAXY
GERMANIUM COMPOUNDS
GROUND STATES
LAYERS
MAGNESIUM OXIDES
SEGREGATION
SURFACES
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
THIN FILMS
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
CHALCOGENIDES
COUPLING
CRYSTAL GROWTH METHODS
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ENERGY LEVELS
FILMS
MAGNESIUM COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
TEMPERATURE RANGE
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS