Dominant diffusing species during cobalt silicide formation

The dominant moving species during cobalt monosilicide and cobalt disilicide formation has been examined using a thin tantalum layer as a metal marker. The marker data obtained following the formation of CoSi from Co2Si showed that monosilicide growth was essentially due Si diffusion only. When used to study CoSi2 formation, the data indicated that silicon was also the dominant moving species during disilicide formation, although a noninsignificant amount of cobalt diffusion was also observed to take place.