Initial solid-state reactions between crystalline Sb and amorphous Si thin films

Abstract
Bilayers of Sb and Si thin films were deposited at room temperature on a thin (20–30 nm) Si3N4 film using electron-beam evaporation. The solid-state reactions in the bilayers were investigated using transmission electron microscope (TEM) during in situ annealing and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The reactions resulted in either an amorphous Sb-Si (a-Sb-Si) alloy or caused crystallization of amorphous silicon (a-Si) at low temperatures, depending on the film thickness of an a-Si layer as well as the heating rate. As predicted from the phase diagram, no compounds between Sb and Si were observed. The initial intermixing of Sb and a-Si was found to be anomalously fast.