Reactive solid-state dewetting of Cu-Ni films on silicon

Journal Article · Mon Dec 20 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3527078· OSTI ID:21518224

Clearfield, Raphael; Railsback, Justin G; Melechko, Anatoli V ^[1]; Pearce, Ryan C ^[1]; Hensley, Dale K; Fowlkes, Jason D; Fuentes-Cabrera, Miguel ^[2]; Simpson, Michael L; Rack, Philip D ^[3]

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1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 (United States)
2. Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 (United States)
3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 (United States)

The behavior of a 50 nm Cu-Ni alloy film on Si in a process of reactive solid-state dewetting is presented. The films were annealed at a range of temperatures (300-700 deg. C) in 1%H{sub 2} 99%N{sub 2} reducing atmosphere. The resulting alloy and silicide particles formed by film dewetting and film reaction with the substrate were distinguished by selective wet etching and examined by scanning electron microscopy and spectroscopy. After potassium hydroxide etch, regions that etch slower than silicon substrate have distribution statistics similar to the alloy and silicide particles prior to their removal, indicating strong coupling between mass transport across the interface and along the surface.

• OSTI ID: 21518224
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 25; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3527078; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANNEALING
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
COPPER ALLOYS
DISTRIBUTION
ETCHING
INTERFACES
MASS
NICKEL ALLOYS
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SILICIDES
SOLIDS
SPECTROSCOPY
STRONG-COUPLING MODEL
SUBSTRATES
SURFACES
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K
THIN FILMS
X RADIATION
ALLOYS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
FILMS
HEAT TREATMENTS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MICROSCOPY
PARTICLE MODELS
RADIATIONS
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SURFACE FINISHING
TEMPERATURE RANGE
TRANSITION ELEMENT ALLOYS