Journal of Crystal Growth 193 (1998) 496—500 The interfacial layer formation of the Ag/InP heterointerfaces T.W. Kim*, D.U. Lee, Y.S. Yoon  Department of Physics, Kwangwoon University, 447-1 Wolgye-dong, Nowon-ku, Seoul 139-701, South Korea  Division of Ceramics, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 131, Cheongryang, Seoul, South Korea Received 14 January 1998; accepted 12 May 1998 Abstract A new approach has been introduced for the fabrication of Ag/p-InP(1 0 0) heterostructures by ion-beam-assisted deposition with the goal of growing Ag epitaxial films. X-ray diffraction measurements showed that the Ag thin-film layers grown on the InP substrates were polycrystalline. Auger electron spectroscopy measurements showed that the Ag was uniformly distributed throughout the thickness of the film and that a relatively sharp interface existed. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the grown Ag film was a polycrystalline layer and that an interfacial layer was formed in the Ag/InP heterointerface. These results indicate that the growth of polycrystalline Ag layers instead of epitaxial films originates from the formation of an interfacial amorphous layer prior to the creation of the films.  1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 61.10.!i; 68.55.!a Keywords: Ag; InP; Ion-beam-assisted deposition 1. Introduction Metal-III—V compound semiconductor systems have attracted much attention because of their po- tential applications in high-speed logic circuits, in- tegrated optics, and microwave systems [1—3]. The growth of the metal epitaxial films on the III—V semiconductor substrates and physical property studies of the metal—semiconductor heterointer- faces have received much attention for many years * Corresponding author. Tel.: # 82 02 940 5234; fax: # 82 02 942 0108. for the purpose of developing fabrication techno- logy for micro-electronic devices [4—8]. The initial stages of the interfacial formation in the metal films grown on semiconductors determine the critical electrical and optical characteristics of the metal— semiconductor contacts to devices. Since the elec- trical and the optical properties of metal films grown on semiconductors are strongly affected by the structural properties of the thin metal layers and the interfacial layers, detailed studies of the structural properties of these layers are very impor- tant for fabricating devices. In addition to the struc- tural properties, stable contacts with low contact resistances are also very essential for fabrication of the electronic devices. 0022-0248/98/$ — see front matter  1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 2 2 - 0 2 4 8 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 6 0 3 - 4