Dopant effect on intrinsic diffusivity in nickel silicide

The effect of P on the diffusivity of Ni and Si in ${\mathrm{Ni}}_2$Si has been studied by analyzing the growth kinetics of ${\mathrm{Ni}}_2$Si on P-doped and undoped polycrystalline Si films using W markers. The growth of ${\mathrm{Ni}}_2$Si during the reaction of Ni and the P-doped Si films is faster than that of Ni and the undoped Si films. Marker analysis showed that the dopant does not affect the activation energies of diffusion; rather it increases greatly the preexponential factor of the diffusion of Si. The dopant effect has been examined in terms of the correlation factor and the entropy factor.