Epitaxial metal-semiconductor structures and their properties.

Recent development of epitaxial silicide technology has allowed structurally perfect metal-semiconductor interfaces to be fabricated. The atomic structure at these abrupt silicide-silicon interfaces has been modelled and electron transport across Schottky barriers with homogeneous interface structure have been studied for the first time. In addition, high quality multilayered structures of epitaxial metals and semiconductors have been fabricated, opening up possibilities for very high speed device applications. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art growth techniques, and the novel structures and properties of single crystal silicide thin films and multilayers.