Reduction of the C49-C54 TiSi2 phase transformation temperature by reactive Ti deposition

The kinetic of the C49-C54 polymorphic transformation in titanium disilicides thin films grown on either (100) and amorphous Si substrates has been studied. C49 TiSi2 layers were formed by rapid thermal processing of Ti films deposited by electron beam in ultra high vacuum. The kinetic of the C49-C54 transformation was followed by sheet resistance measurements, while the morphology and the grain size of C49 TiSi2 were measured by atomic force microscopy. A relation between the sample preparation procedure, the C49 grain size and the transformation temperature was found. The activation energy for the transformation (3.9 ± 0.3 eV) resulted to be independent of the C49 grain size.