1. | Demchenko I.N.♦, Melikhov Y., Syryanyy Y.♦, Zaytseva I.♦, Konstantynov P.♦, Chernyshov M.♦, Effect of argon sputtering on XPS depth-profiling results of Si/Nb/Si, JOURNAL OF ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY AND RELATED PHENOMENA, ISSN: 0368-2048, DOI: 10.1016/j.elspec.2017.09.009, Vol.224, pp.17-22, 2018Abstract:Ultrathin Si/Nb/Si trilayer is an excellent example of a system for which dimensionality effects, together with other factors like type of a substrate material and growth method, influence strongly its superconducting properties. This study offers some important insights into experimental investigation of density of states of such a system with the aim to identify an electronic structure of the interface as a function of niobium layer thickness. For that, two Si/Nb/Si trilayers with 9.5 and 1.3 nm thick niobium layer buried in amorphous silicon were studied using high-resolution (HR) XPS depth-profile techniques. Strong influence of sputtering was observed, which resulted in severe intermixture of Si and Nb atoms. Nevertheless, a sharp top interface and metallic phase of niobium were detected for the thicker layer sample. On the contrary, a Nb-rich mixed alloy at top interface was observed for the thinner layer sample. Keywords:High-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, XPS, Si/Nb/Si, NbSi, Depth profiling Affiliations:Demchenko I.N. | - | Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL) | Melikhov Y. | - | IPPT PAN | Syryanyy Y. | - | Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL) | Zaytseva I. | - | Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL) | Konstantynov P. | - | Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL) | Chernyshov M. | - | Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion (PL) |
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