Formation kinetics of MoSi2 induced by cw scanned laser beam

Abstract

Scanned cw laser beams at different scan velocities from 10 to 400 cm/s have been used to study the interaction of thin metal films of molybdenum deposited by electron beam evaporation with single‐crystal silicon substrate. Backscattering technique has been used to investigate the growth mechanism of hexagonal silicide MoSi₂ as a function of the number of repetitive laser scans. Silicide layers are found to grow at a rate proportional to the square root of the effective annealing time in the whole range of scan velocities. Effective annealing temperatures are calculated for each laser annealing condition, and from an Arrhenius plot a mean value of activation energy for MoSi₂ growth is estimated.