| Early stages of metal-Si (Ge) compounds growth and the interface atomic structures have been studied with FIM. Single crystal NiSi2 and CoSi2 films can be grown on the [111] oriented Si tip in UHV. From the axial symmetry change, either identical or 180° change, the interfaces are identified to be either A-type or B-type. Atomic structures of silicide overlayers grown on either metal or silicon tip surfaces have also been studied. Very well developed silicide overlayer structures have been observed for RhSi (RhGe) grown on Rh(001), or RhSi(RhGe)/Rh(001), and other systems such as IrSi(IrGe)/Ir(001), RhSi/Si(120), PtSi/Si(120) and IrSi/Si(120). In almost every case, two different types of interface, or overlayer, structure have been observed. |