STM study of titanium silicide nanostructure growth on Si(111)-() substrate

SPM Characterization of Titanium Disilicide Nanostructures Grown on a Ni-Modified Si(100) Substrate

“…In this latter case alloying of Si, Ti and Ni atoms was observed after annealing at similar temperatures [16]. This is a strong indication that the nanostructures formed in our experiment were composed of TiSi 2 .…”

“…Nickel atoms diffuse into a number of top layers and they are incorporated into the crystal lattice. A small amount of Ni atoms deposited onto an Si(111) substrate, followed by the flashing procedure, generates the √ 19 × √ 19 surface reconstruction, but in this case Ni-Si bonds inside the top two layers can be broken by annealing at 970 K [16].…”

“…Our initial intention was to use the Si(100) 2 × n reconstruction generated by Ni atoms to create an elongated TiSi 2 structure on it, and compare the results with the latest measurements on the Si(111) √ 19 × √ 19 substrate [16]. We wanted to check the possibility of producing stable nanowires made of the C54 phase grown along and/or between defect lines on the modified Si(100) substrate, and to characterize them by STM method.…”