Kinetics and mechanism of platinum silicide formation on silicon

Abstract
The growth of platinum silicide layers has been observed using Rutherford backscattering. By simultaneous observation of the relative movement of the Pt2Si and PtSi interfaces, it is possible to deduce that Si is the diffusing species with the reaction occurring at either the Pt2Si–Pt, PtSi–Pt2Si, or PtSi–Pt interfaces. Activation energies for the growth of the Pt2Si and PtSi layers are 1.6 eV. It is possible to interact Pt with Si by means of Ar ion bombardment; however, the reacted layer acts as a barrier to Si diffusion.