Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
Interactions of evaporated Ni and Si thin films were investigated by a combination of backseat tering spectrometry and transmission electron microscopy. The presence of amorphous Si has no significant effects on Ni2Si and NiSi formation, but it drastically lowers the formation temperature of NiSi. Experiments with evaporated thin markers established that Ni is the dominant diffusing species in the growth of the three suicides. The stability of NiSi was examined by sequential evaporation of Ni34Si66 and Ni50Si50 thin films both on Si(100) and on evaporated Si substrates. The results showed that NiSi2 grows at the expence of NiSi when the stucture is in contact with evaporated Si, while it dissociates into NiSi and Si when in contact with single crystal Si.