Epitaxial and polycrystalline orthorhombic GdSi2
films were grown on Si(100) substrates by solid phase reaction between Si and Gd films at different thicknesses of the Gd film. The most important property of these GdSi2/Si interfaces
was defect formation. This was investigated by studying the properties of the Schottky barriers by means of current voltage and capacitance–voltage characteristics, deep level transient spectroscopy by double crystal X-ray diffractometry, and transmission electron microscopy. Epitaxial growth of the silicide
layer ensured a relatively low interface defect density (about 10^10 cm−2), while the non-epitaxial growth induced defects of a
much higher density (about 10^12 cm−2). The defects generated during the silicide formation are located within a depth of about 10 nm from the GdSi2/Si interface.
