STRAIN DISTRIBUTION AROUND A NISI2 SI INTERFACE MEASURED BY CONVERGENT-BEAM ELECTRON-DIFFRACTION/

The lattice strain distribution in a Si (001) substrate around NiSi2 i sland is measured using convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) ov er a submicron area. Lower symmetric CBED patterns are observed near t he interface, demonstrating that compressing and tensile strains are d istributed around NiSi, islands, The magnitude of the lattice strains, estimated by comparing the measurements with calculated CBED patterns , was found to be in the range of about 0.1 to 0.4%. Strain singularit ies were observed at NiSi2 island corners and attributed to a sum of c ertain stress components. This feature of the strain distribution is t hought to be related to the shape and dimensions of the NiSi2 islands.