The thermal stability of laser-produced silicide layers

Abstract
We have studied the thermal stability of laser‐reacted Pd and Pt silicides upon post‐irradiation annealing in a vacuum furnace. It was found from both Rutherford backscattering and x‐ray analysis that thermal annealing at temperatures between 400 and 800 °C for 15 h causes Si to diffuse out of the silicide layer and to grow epitaxially on the single‐crystal substrate. Hereby, a single silicide phase tends to form at the expense of the other phases present. The reported compositional changes do not occur during standard heat treatment cycles used in semiconductor device fabrication.