Browsing by Author "Masenya, Madipoane"
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Item Solid state dewetting of a metal –semiconductor bi-layers deposited onto c-Si substrate(Springer, 2023) Halindintwali, Sylvain; Masenya, Madipoane; Madhuku, MorganA bi-layers stack consisting of a semiconductor thin film of a varied thickness and a very thin Pd layer (SiC/Pd/c-Si).was deposited onto c-Si by e-beam evaporation at room temperature. The multi-layers structure was subjected to a thermal annealing process at near eutectic temperature of the Si – Pd phase. It is noticed, through top view SEM and cross-section STEM analyses, that the sandwiched Pd metal layer dewets from the interface with the c-Si substrate in well dispersed nanoparticles and it diffuses inward onto the top few monolayers of the substrate; at times it permeates shallowly through the SiC semiconductor top layer. The size distribution of the nanoparticles was found to be closely linked to the thickness of the top semiconductor layer.