Determination of C54 nucleation site density in narrow stripes by sheet resistance measurements and mu-Raman spectroscopy

The kinetic of the C49-C54 phase transformation at 730 degrees C in TiSi2 n arrow strips for width in the 0.5-1.3-mu m range was investigated by resist ance measurements and mu-Raman spectroscopy. With this last technique a gro wth rate of 0.15 mu m/s and a nucleation density of about 0.035 sites/mu m( 2) were obtained. The fraction of the transformed material as measured by r esistance follows the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami equation, with an exponent equal to 1 for all of the analysed linewidths. Nucleation site saturation occurs and the growth is one-dimensional along the length of the strip. The charac teristic time increases as 1/W, W being the width of the strip, and, taking into account the growth rate obtained by mu-Raman spectroscopy, the nuclea tion density resulted 0.034 sites/mu m(2) in excellent agreement with the m u-Raman results. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.