Nucleation phenomena during titanium silicon reaction

It is known that thermal annealing of Ti and amorphous (alpha) Si first results in an amorphous silicide, after which the crystalline disilicide grows under diffusion control. The situation with respect to the reaction of Ti with crystalline (x) Si is much less clear. We have investigated the reaction of Ti with xSi with (high resolution) cross-section transmission electron microscopy and in-situ Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. It is shown that an amorphous silicide can also be formed on crystalline Si. The presence of this amorphous silicide as a precursor to the C49TiSi2 phase is suggested to be an important issue in the nucleation and growth of the disilicide