Epitaxial growth of semiconducting β-FeSi2 and its application to light-emitting diodes

In this paper, we review the detailed study of epitaxial growth of β-FeSi 2 films by reactive deposition epitaxy (RDE), multilayer technique and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The p - and n -type β-FeSi 2 was formed when it was grown under an Fe-rich and an Si-rich condition, respectively. The maximum electron and hole mobilities of the β-FeSi 2 epitaxial films reached 6900 and 13000 cm 2 /V·s for the n - and p -type β-FeSi 2 , respectively, at around 50 K. Room temperature (RT) 1.6 μm electroluminescence (EL) was realized by optimizing the growth conditions for p -Si/β-FeSi 2 particles/ n -Si structures prepared by RDE for β-FeSi 2 and by MBE for Si.