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SURFACE MORPHOLOGY AND STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF NICKEL SILICIDE THIN FILMS FABRICATED BY ION-PLASMA DEPOSITION

metal, silicide, thin films, nanoscale, contact resistance, ion-plasma deposition, thermal diffusion, energydispersive X-ray spectroscopy

Authors

It has been determined that excessive heating at 800 K may induce agglomeration effects; therefore, the optimal annealing temperature was set at 750 K. Furthermore, the initially amorphous or fine-grained crystalline structure evolved into larger crystalline domains, suggesting the onset of NiSi2 phase formation. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) revealed an almost complete absence of oxygen, carbon, and other impurity peaks, thereby confirming the high purity of the sample. The results indicate that silicide phases, most likely NiSi2, were formed at the Ni/Si interface as a consequence of ion-plasma deposition followed by thermal diffusion