Incorporation of argon in titanium silicon multilayer structures during sputter deposition

Abstract
Titanium silicon multilayer structures have been produced by alternate sputtering of silicon and titanium in an argon plasma. During the sputter process, part of the titanium and silicon layers react to form a silicide at the interfaces. Because of the argon plasma, a certain amount of argon is incorporated in the growing multilayer. A model is presented in which the amount of argon incorporated in the multilayer is a function of the nominal thickness of the individual silicon layers.