Abstract
Epitaxial CrSi <sub>2</sub> has been successfully grown on (111)Si. Substrate heating at 300 or 400°C during Cr deposition was found to be more effective than two-step annealing in promoting the growth and improving the quality of epitaxial CrSi <sub>2</sub> . The best epitaxy was obtained when sample substrates were heated at 300 or 400°C followed by 1000-1100°C annealing for 1 h. The orientation relationships were found to be (0001) CrSi <sub>2</sub> //(111)Si, (224̄0)CrSi <sub>2</sub> //(224̄)Si, (202̄0)CrSi <sub>2</sub> //(202̄)Si, and [12̄13]CrSi <sub>2</sub> //[101]Si. Dislocations present in the regular interfacial dislocation network were found to be of edge or 60°type with (1)/(6) <112> Burgers vectors. The average dislocation spacings were measured to be 270-320 Å. The discrepancy of the measured and theoretically expected value of dislocation spacing was attributed to the difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of CrSi <sub>2</sub> and Si.