Structure, interface roughness, and growth mechanism of reactive deposition epitaxy of CoSi2 on Si(100) substrates

Thin CoSi2 films have been grown on Si(100) substrates using the relative d eposition epitaxy method. The structure of the silicide films have been ana lyzed using x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and channeling, and the interface ro ughness of the CoSi2/Si(100) is analyzed using specular x-ray reflectivity and cross-sectional TEM. The structure and interface roughness of CoSi2/Si( 100) is found to be dependent on the substrate temperature. Highly epitaxia l CoSi2 with minimum interface roughness is obtained when the film is grown at substrate temperatures around 900 K. The observed interface roughness i s a parabolic function of temperature. The achievement of the best silicide at a substrate temperature around 900 K is explained on the basis of the i nstantaneous diffusion of Co through growing CoSi2. (C) 2001 American Insti tute of Physics.