Step by step rare-earth catalyzed SiOx annealing and simultaneous formation of Europium- silicide by low coverage of Eu doped Gd2O3 nanoparticles
We report the formation of silicide by annealing of a SiOx surface, with low coverage of Eu doped Gd2O3 nanoparticles. The annealing temperature required for removal of native oxide from the Si substrate decreases with close to 200 °C in presence of the nanoparticles. X-ray photoemission electron microscopy, low-energy electron microscopy and mirror electron microscopy are used to monitor the sili