Thickness Dependence of Epitaxial TiSi2 on Si(111).

ABSTRACTThe epitaxy and morphology of TiSi2 on Si(l 11) are studied as a function of Ti thickness. Titanium thicknesses of 1–2 monolayers and Ti films with thicknesses of 50Å; were examined. The titanium silicide films were formed on atomically clean Si substrates by ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) deposition of Ti followed by in situ annealing. In situ LEED and AES measurements characterized the reaction process. For room temperature deposition of less than two monolayers of Ti the LEED pattern associated with the reconstructed substrate disappeared, and the 1×1 bulk pattern also disappeared completely. Annealing at 200°C resulted in a decrease in the Ti AES signal indicating interdiffusion. For annealing up to 500°C, a series of changes in the LEED patterns were observed, which indicated that the disordered layer transformed to an ordered surface layer. Annealing to higher temperature resulted in the reappearance of the diffraction pattern associated with the 7×7 reconstructed Si(111) surface. This indicated three dimensional island growth. For the TiSi2 formed by in situ annealing of 50Å of Ti on Si(111), three different types of island morphologies were observed and identified as the C49 phase of TiSi2. The C49 TiSi2 was proven to be an epitaxial titanium silicideby HRTEM and SAD. Two different orientation relationships of the TiSi2 islands are found: 1) [3 1 1] C49 TiSi2 // [112]Si and (130) C49 TiSi2 //(11 1) Si, and 2) [1 1 2] C49 TiSi2 // [110] Si and (021) C49 TiSi2 //(1 11) Si. The C49 nucleation and island morphologies are discussed in terms of the character of the epitaxial interface.