Use of x-ray reflectivity techniques to determine structural parameters of some silicide structures for microelectronics applications

X-ray reflectivity measurements have been carried out on TiN/Ti/Si- and WSix/Si-deposited and -annealed structures. The results show that for the as-deposited samples there are periodic oscillations due to a well-defined interface roughness, while for the annealed samples the disappearance of the oscillations due to increase in surface and interface roughness of the formed silicide layers is observed. We demonstrate that the analysis of x-ray reflectivity measurements collected both in the specular and in the off-specular way, even for the samples with very high surface and interface roughness, allows the determination of structural parameters of the films and interfaces.