The effect of the rapid thermal annealing on the interdiffusion and the reaction at the interface of the binary system Cr/Si

In order to understand the growth mechanism of the silicides and the effect of the dopant on the electrical activity, a thin layer of chromium (100 nm) is deposited on the single crystal silicon (1 0 0) substrate implanted (1015 As+ atoms/cm2, 100 keV) and non implanted. Afterwards, we performed a rapid thermal annealing in the interval of temperature (450–600 °C) for a fixed duration of 45 s. The samples are analyzed by X ray-diffraction (XRD) and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). The electrical activity has been investigated by the method of the four-point probes. The analysis of the samples by XRD and RBS showed that the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) leads to a reaction at the interface Cr/Si inducing the formation and the growth of the unique silicide CrSi2. It is also established that the kinetics growth of CrSi2 presents a linear evolution with temperature. This fact shows that the growth is governed by a chemical reaction of the interface. Sheet resistance measurements have been performed to study the electrical behavior for these structures. It is worth to point out that the presence of the implanted arsenic in the single crystal silicon increased the resistance in a significant manner.