Role of buried ultra thin interlayer silicide on the growth of Ni film on Si(100) substrate

The presence of a buried, ultra-thin amorphous interlayer in the interface of room temperature deposited Ni film with a crystalline Si(100) substrate has been observed using cross sectional transmission electron microscopy (X TEM). The electron density of the interlayer silicide is found to be 2.02 e /Angstrom(3) by specular X-ray reflectivity (XRR) measurements. X-ray diffr action (XRD) is used to investigate the growth of deposited Ni film on the buried ultra-thin silicide layer. The Ni film is found to be highly texture d in an Ni(111) plane. The enthalpy of formation of the Ni/Si system is cal culated using Miedema's model to explain the role of amorphous interlayer s ilicide on the growth of textured Ni film. The local temperature of the int erlayer silicide is calculated using enthalpy of formation and the average heat capacity of Ni and Si. The local temperature is around 1042 K if the i nterlayer compound is Ni3Si and the local temperature is 1389 K if the inte rlayer compound is Ni2Si. The surface mobility of the further deposited Ni atoms is enhanced due to the local temperature rise of the amorphous interl ayer and produced highly textured Ni film.