Studies of the Growth and Oxidation of Metal‐Silicides Using Radioactive 31Si as Tracer

Abstract

Radioactive 31Si marker experiments show that the metal is the diffusing species during and formation, whereas both Pd and Si diffuse during growth. The formation of on was also investigated. At low temperatures (480°C) silicon was found to be primarily transported directly from the Si (100) substrate by grain boundary and/or interstitial diffusion through the layer. At higher temperatures substitutional (vacancy) diffusion of silicon started to be predominant, until at temperatures of about 650°C complete intermixing between radioactive and nonradioactive Si took place between the and layers. Tracer studies of the steam oxidation of indicate that silicon diffuses through the layer by a substitutional (vacancy) mechanism during formation. The measured activity profile in the layer shows that growth takes place at the interface and that oxygen is the diffusion species through the layer.