Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
Planar low-temperature solid phase epitaxy of amorphous silicon in a-Si/10nmNiSi/c-Si structure was observed. The crystallization rate is well described by the arrhenius-type expression with the activation energy and preexponencial factor deduced from our measurements of 1.7 eV and 2.4×1012 nm/min, respectively. NiSi2 formation at the NiSi2/a-Si interface is believed to be the limiting stage of the transformation. The structures with thicker Ni-reached interfacial layer perform much poorer a-Si epitaxy.