THERMALLY INDUCED EPITAXIAL RECRYSTALLIZATION OF NISI2 AND COSI2

Time-resolved reflectivity and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry combined with channeling have been used to measure the epitaxial recrystallization kinetics of amorphous NiSi2 and CoSi2 layers. Epitaxial metal silicide layers, fabricated on (111) Si substrates by metal deposition and thermal reaction, were implanted with low-energy Si ions to form amorphous surface layers. Such layers recrystallized epitaxially from the underlying crystalline metal silicide during thermal annealing at temperatures of 60-176 °C. Post-anneal disorder consisted of dislocation networks as observed with transmission electron microscopy. Reduced recrystallization rates were apparent in samples implanted with O and Ar ions. Activation energies of 1.09±0.03 and 1.17±0.03 eV were determined for the epitaxial recrystallization of amorphous NiSi2 and CoSi2 layers, respectively.