On the growth kinetics of Ni(Pt) silicide thin films

We report on the effect of Pt on the growth kinetics of δ-Ni2Si and Ni1−xPtxSi thin films formed by solid phase reaction of a Ni(Pt) alloyed thin film on Si(100). The study was performed by real-time Rutherford backscattering spectrometry examining the silicide growth rates for initial Pt concentrations of 0, 1, 3, 7, and 10 at. % relative to the Ni content. Pt was found to exert a drastic effect on the growth kinetics of both phases. δ-Ni2Si growth is slowed down tremendously, which results in the simultaneous growth of this phase with Ni1−xPtxSi. Activation energies extracted for the Ni1−xPtxSi growth process exhibit an increase from Ea = 1.35 ± 0.06 eV for binary NiSi to Ea = 2.7 ± 0.2 eV for Ni1−xPtxSi with an initial Pt concentration of 3 at. %. Further increasing the Pt content to 10 at. % merely increases the activation energy for Ni1−xPtxSi growth to Ea = 3.1 ± 0.5 eV.