Reaction Rate Kinetics and Film Textures of Palladium Silicide Formed on Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe reaction rate kinetics of the thin film solid-state reaction between 120 nm of Pd and 100 or 300 nm of a-Si:H(18at%) to form Pd2Si were studied in situ using x-ray diffraction and four-point probe resistivity measurements during isothermal annealing. These two techniques yielded activation energies and prefactors of Ea=1. 36±:0.11 eV with ko=4.29 cm2/sec for the x-ray diffraction experiments; and Ea=0.97±0.22 eV with ko=3.42x10-4 cm2/sec for the resistivity measurements. The activation energy and prefactor obtained from the c-Si substrate of the resistivity measurements yielded Ea=l.41±0.31 eV and ko=10.6 cm2/sec. Comparisons showed that the silicide formed from the a-Si:H reacted approximately 1.4 times faster than the silicide formed from the c-Si in the same sample, but three times faster than silicide formed on pure c-Si(111). The crystalline texture and grain size of the metal and silicide films were examined.