Present work is devoted to determination the regularity of change of specific resistance and Schottky barrier height of nickel films on n-type silicon (111) at their rapid thermal treatment in the temperatures range from 200 to 550 °C. Nickel films of about 60 nm thickness were deposited by magnetron sputtering onto the silicon substrates having a resistivity of 0.58 to 0.53 Ohms×cm. The rapid thermal treatment was carried out in the range of 200 to 550 °C under heat balance mode by irradiating the backside of the substrates with non-coherent light flux in nitrogen ambient for 7 seconds. The thickness of the nickel films was determined by scanning electron microscopy. The sheet resistance of the samples was measured by a four-probe method. The Schottky barrier height was determined from I-V plots. It is shown that at a temperatureы of rapid thermal treatment of Ni/n-Si (111) 200–250 °C nickel will be transformed to Ni2Si, increasing in thickness by 1.15–1.33 times, specific resistance increases to 26–30 μOhm×cm, and Schottky barrier height decreases from 0.66 to 0.6 V. At a rapid thermal treatment temperature of 300°C the initial nickel film thickness increases by 1.93 times, the resistivity and Schottky barrier height decrease to 26–30 μOhm×cm and 0.59 V respectively due to the conversion of the Ni2Si into NiSi and the fixation of the barrier height by surface states at the silicidesilicon interface. Rapid thermal treatment of 350–550 °C transforms the original nickel film into NiSi, increases its thickness by 2.26–2.67 times, reduces its resistivity to 15–18 μOhm×cm and increases the Schottky barrier height to 0.62–0.64 V. The minimum defects and better reproducibility of electrophysical properties are characterized by NiSi films formed by rapid thermal treatment of nickel films on n-type silicon at a temperature of 400–450 °C. The results obtained can be used in the technology of integrated electronics products containing rectifying contacts.

The formation of nickel silicide layers on (111)-Si substrates during rapid thermal annealing in the heat balance mode was studied by the Rutherford backscattering method, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and electrophysical measurements. Nickel films of about 70 nm thickness were deposited by magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The rapid thermal treatment was carried out in a heat balance mode by irradiating the substrates backside with a non-coherent light flux of quartz halogen lamps in the nitrogen medium for 7 seconds up to the temperature range of 200 to 550 °C. The redistribution of nickel and silicon atoms to monosilicide NiSi composition starts already at a temperature of 300 °С and almost ends at a temperature of 400 °С. In the same temperature range, the orthorhombic NiSi phase with an average grain size of about 0.05–0.1 μm is formed. At a rapid thermal treatment temperature of 300 °C, two phases of silicides (Ni2 Si and NiSi) are formed, while a thin layer of unreacted Ni is retained on the surface. This fact can be explained by the high heating rate at the initial annealing stage, at which the temperature conditions of the NiSi phase formation occur earlier than the entire Ni layer manages to turn into the Ni2 Si phase. The layers with a simultaneous presence of three phases are characterized by a high roughness of the silicide-silicon interface. The dependence of the specific resistivity of nickel silicide layers shows an increase to the values of 26–30 μOhm · cm in the range of rapid thermal treatment temperatures of 200–250 °C and a subsequent decrease to the values of about 15 μOhm · cm at a rapid thermal treatment temperature of 400 °C. This value of specific resistivity is characteristic of the high conductivity of the NiSi phase and correlates well with the results of structure studies.

Sapphire cutting is one of the largest markets in laser materials processing. Since sapphire is one of the hardest transparent materials its mechanical and optical properties made it the ideal choice for use in the production of various devices, such as LEDs and transistors, cover glasses of watches and mobile devices. Among existing laser- or diamond-based tools solutions, femtosecond laser scribing appear as a promising technology since this technology has the unique capacity to produce highly localized bulk modification owing to non-linear absorption. Sapphire cutting with solid-state lasers is well known for many years and has become a modern industrial process. However, achievable process speed and cut quality are still limited. The femtosecond laser scribing of sapphire was studied at wavelengths of 1040 and 520 nm, followed by wet etching in HNO3/HF solution to identify emerging defects. The morphology of the laser ablated sapphire surface was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy. It was shown that at the wavelength of 1040nm, the material was effectively removed from the surface; however, cracks on the surface were formed. The use of the second harmonic gave more accurate and deep cuts compared with the main frequency at the same conditions. At the wavelength of 520 nm, the cracks were formed anisotropically inside the volume of the material. Therefore, there is a potential application of the femtosecond laser scribing for the fabrication of sapphire-based devices.

The formation of chromium disilicide layers on n-type single crystal silicon substrates (111) during rapid thermal annealing in heat balance mode by the methods of Rutherford backscattering, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy of cross sections was investigated. Chromium films of about 30 nm thickness were deposited by magnetron sputtering of a chromium target with argon ions onto silicon substrates at room temperature. The rapid thermal treatment was carried out in a temperature range of 200 to 550 °C in a heat balance mode by irradiating the substrates backside with a non-coherent light flux of quartz halogen lamps in a nitrogen ambient for 7 s. It was established that hexagonal phase of chromium disilicide formation with grain size of 150–300 nm occurs in a threshold manner when the temperature of rapid thermal treatment exceeds 400 °C. At the same time, there are strong changes in the films surface morphology and surface roughness, and a silicide-silicon interface occur. In this case the wavy film surface morphology practically repeats silicide-silicon interface morphology (the surface exactly replicates the interface). The mechanism of CrSi2/Si interface structure roughness formation based on consideration of Kirkendall effect and deformation-stimulated diffusion of vacancies is proposed and discussed. The research results of the structure and morphology of CrSi2 layers on silicon are well-correlated with the results of the Schottky barrier electrophysical measurements. The results obtained can be used in microelectronics for forming rectifying contacts and interconnects metallization for integrated circuits, as well as for thermoelectric and optoelectronic applications.

The present work is devoted to determination of the dependence of the heating temperature of the silicon wafer on the lamps power and the heating time during rapid thermal processing using “UBTO 1801” unit by irradiating the wafer backside with an incoherent flow of constant density light. As a result, a mathematical model of silicon wafer temperature variation was developed on the basis of the equation of nonstationary thermal conductivity and known temperature dependencies of the thermophysical properties of silicon and the emissivity of aluminum and silver applied to the planar surface of the silicon wafer. For experimental determination of the numerical parameters of the mathematical model, silicon wafers were heated with light single pulse of constant power to the temperature of one of three phase transitions such as aluminum-silicon eutectic formation, aluminum melting and silver melting. The time of phase transition formation on the wafer surface during rapid thermal processing was fixed by pyrometric method. In accordance with the developed mathematical model, we determined the conversion coefficient of the lamps electric power to the light flux power density with the numerical value of 5.16∙10-3 cm-2 . Increasing the lamps power from 690 to 2740 W leads to an increase in the silicon wafer temperature during rapid thermal processing from 550°to 930°K, respectively. With that, the wafer temperature prediction error in compliance with developed mathematical model makes less than 2.3 %. The work results can be used when developing new procedures of rapid thermal processing for silicon wafers.