Effects of Au film on the kinetics of platinum silicide formation

It has been known that silicon atoms can diffuse out through a gold film and accumulate on the top surface at low temperatures. To investigate the effect of this phenomenon on the silicide formation kinetics, a gold layer was deposited between a platinum layer and a silicon layer. After annealing, the progress of silicide formation was probed with Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. It was found that the PtSi formation rate is greatly enhanced by a gold film while the Pt2Si formation rate shows little changes. These are explained in terms of different dominant diffusing species during the formation of silicides. © 1987, American Vacuum Society. All rights reserved.