Growth kinetics of amorphous interlayers by solid‐state diffusion in ultrahigh vacuum deposited polycrystalline Nb and Ta thin films on (111)Si

The growth kinetics of amorphous interlayer (a‐interlayer) formed by solid‐state diffusion in ultrahigh vacuum deposited polycrystalline Nb and Ta thin films on (111)Si have been investigated by cross‐sectional transmission electron microscopy. The growth of a‐interlayers in Nb/Si and Ta/Si systems was found to exhibit similar behaviors. The growth was found to follow a linear growth law initially in sample annealed at 450–500  °C and 550–625  °C for Nb/Si and Ta/Si, respectively. The growth then slows down and deviates from a linear growth law as a critical thickness of a‐interlayer was reached. The activation energy for the linear growth of a‐interlayer was found to be 0.8±0.3 and 0.9±0.3 eV for Nb/Si and Ta/Si, respectively. The correlations among difference in atomic size between metal and Si atoms, growth rate and activation energy of the linear growth, critical and maximum a‐interlayer thickness, the largest heat of formation energy for crystalline silicides, the calculated free energy difference in...

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