A study of silicide formation by laser irradiation

Abstract
We have studied the formation of palladium‐silicide and platinum‐silicide by laser irradiation of a thin metal film evaporated on single‐crystal silicon. The laser‐induced silicide layers are very smooth and uniform as found by SEM analysis. The thickness of the reacted metal film has been measured as a function of applied laser fluence. X‐ray diffractometry showed that the reacted layers are a mixture of different metal‐silicon compounds. This fact is explained by describing the process through which silicides are formed by laser irradiation.