‘‘Coreless defects’’ and the continuity of epitaxial NiSi2/Si(100) thin films

7 March 1988

journal article
research article
Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters

Vol. 52 (10) , 828-830
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.99297

Abstract

Epitaxial thin films of NiSi₂ on Si(100) have been grown by room‐temperature deposition of Ni followed by a high‐temperature reaction. Initial stages of epitaxy revealed by transmission electron microscopy show nucleation of crystallographically equivalent islands related by a translation vector a/4〈111〉 via the underlying silicon substrate. Coalescence of islands thus requires the generation of a/4〈111〉 dislocations, which is energetically unfavorable. We find that very thin films (∼60 Å) do not coalesce, but choose to remain as islands leaving trenches of exposed substrate 15±1.5 Å in width between them. We propose that the trench left between islands can be described as a coreless defect in the silicide.

Keywords

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