Alloying of thin palladium films with single crystal and amorphous silicon

Alpha-particle backscattering techniques have been used to investigate interdiffusion and compound formation of thin palladium films on crystalline and amorphous layers of silicon. The amorphous layers were produced by 80 keV ion implantation of 2 × 1015 cm−2 phosphorus ions. No detectable reaction between the palladium and silicon was observed after a 90 °C vacuum anneal. The compound Pd2Si, however, formed readily at 200 °C on both crystalline and amorphous silicon, and in each case preferred orientation of the Pd2Si layer was revealed by the channeling effect method. Further vacuum annealing to 310 °C showed only minor changes with no recrystallization of the ion implanted amorphous region.