Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 September 2012
An investigation of the influence of an intermediate titanium thin film on the silicidation reaction between an overlying iron film and the (100)-oriented silicon substrate is presented. The Fe-Ti bilayers were obtained by consecutive sputtering of a Ti layer and an Fe layer on Si substrates. In addition, single iron layers were made by sputtering for comparison with the bilayers. By subsequent rapid-thermnal processing (RTP), depending on the annealing conditions, both the semiconducting β- and the metallic α-FeSi2 thin films could be formed. The phase formation has been investigated as a function of the thickness of the titanium layer, the annealing time and temperature. In this paper the first results on iron disilicide formation through Fe-Ti-Si diffusion couples are shown. Characterisation of the FeSi2 layers using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), channelling RBS, X-ray diffraction (XRD), sheet resistivity measurements will be presented.