Relaxation processes in Au–TiB rGaAs structures under 2 short-term thermal annealing

The investigations of the structure parameters of Au–TiB2rGaAs and TiB2rGaAs device structures and their transformations at short-term thermal annealing were carried out. The metal films were magnetron sputtered on Czochralski-grown 001.GaAs in an argon atmosphere. The growth rate was ;5 nmrs and the film thickness ranged from 10 to 50 nm. The samples were annealed for 1 min at 4008C, 6008C and 8008C. Using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope SEM.and scanning probe microscope SPM.methods, it was shown that sputtering titanium diboride films causes the titanium and boron solid solutions to form as well as the appearance of some other phases in the interface region. Short-term annealing at above temperatures leads to elastic strain relaxation, changes of film morphology, decay of solid solutions and generation of dislocations. The relaxation processes differ for various types of structures. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved