Influence of Pt addition on the texture of NiSi on Si(001)

We report on the texture of Ni1−xPtxSi films on Si(001) substrates. X-ray diffraction measurements in Bragg–Brentano geometry appear to indicate that pure NiSi films are randomly oriented, while the addition of Pt was reported to induce an epitaxial alignment. However, detailed texture analysis using pole figure measurements shows that pure NiSi films are in fact strongly textured. The NiSi grains exhibit five different types of preferential orientation. The addition of an increasing amount of Pt gradually changes these five texture components. This texture evolution can be understood on the basis of the expansion of the monosilicide unit cell, caused by the incorporation of Pt.