Effects of the film thickness on the interfacial reaction of Pt/(111)Si

Abstract

Pt thin films 50–300 Å thick were deposited onto the p-type, (111)-oriented Si substrate with the substrate kept at 450 °C during film deposition, while silicide formations and their microstructures were investigated by transmission electron diffraction and x-ray diffraction analysis. It was found that for different thicknesses of the deposited Pt films, the silicides were formed in different phases and different microstructures in the as-deposited sample. β-Pt2Si was observed in the samples of 50- and 200-Å-thick deposited Pt films, but with different orientations. And if the thickness of the Pt deposited layer was increased to 300 Å, the as-deposited sample will present the formation of the PtSi epitaxial layer, Pt polycrystalline, and the texture polycrystalline of α-Pt2Si. This film thickness effect is believed to be due to the grain growth and/or grain transformation of various grain orientations at different film thickness depositions.