Epitaxial Growth of Thick Ag/Si(111) Films

600∼4000Å thick Ag films grown on 3∼4· misoriented Si(111) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technique have been studied by using x-ray pole-figure analysis and MeV He+ Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS)/channeling technique. X-ray pole-figure measurements revealed that despite the large lattice mismatch (∼25%) between Ag and Si, Ag films with epitaxial relationship Ag(111)//Si(111):Ag[011]//Si[011] were grown with a small quantity (15∼20%) of twin structure. The axial channeling minimum yield (Xmin) is reduced at the Ag surface as the Ag film thickness increases. These films were thermally stable up to 500°C annealing but the twinning disappeared after annealing