Mechanism of enhanced formation of C54-TiSi2 in high-temperature deposited Ti thin films on preamorphized (001)Si

Abstract

Enhanced formation of C54-TiSi2 in high-temperature deposited Ti thin films on preamorphized (001)Si has been investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy in conjunction with autocorrelation function analysis. The increase in the thickness of the amorphous TiSix layer is due to the preamorphization implantation for the most part. The dominant effect of high-temperature sputtering is to increase the density of crystallites in the amorphous TiSix layer. The enhanced formation of C54-TiSi2 in high-temperature deposited samples is attributed to the more extensive presence of suicide crystallites, which serve as nucleation sites, in the amorphous TiSix layer than that in samples deposited at room temperature. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.