Study of cobalt-disilicide formation from cobalt monosilicide

Abstract

The reaction CoSi+Si→CoSi2 has been investigated in the temperature range of 500–600 °C, using Rutherford backscattering, x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and four-point sheet-resistance measurements. The reaction is very slow at 500 °C and extremely fast at 600 °C, and appears to occur in four stages: (a) nucleation of the CoSi2 phase at the grain-boundary triple points, (b) lateral growth from nucleation sites to form a continuous layer on the silicon surface, (c) growth in thickness by diffusion through this disilicide layer, and (d) the lateral epitaxial growth by eliminating the grain boundaries. The diffusion through the disilicide layer seems to be a rate-limiting process with high activation energy.