Phase formation in intermixed Ni-Ge thin films: Influence of Ge content and low-temperature nucleation of hexagonal nickel germanides

In this study, we focus on phase formation in intermixed Ni-Ge thin films as they represent a simplified model of the small intermixed interface layer that is believed to form upon deposition of Ni on Ge and where initial phase formation happens. A combinatorial sputter deposition technique was used to co-deposit a range of intermixed Ni-Ge thin films with Ge concentrations varying between 0 and 50 at.%Ge in a single deposition on both Ge (100) and inert SiO2 substrates. In situ X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy where used to study phase formation. In almost the entire composition range under investigation, crystalline phases where found to be present in the as-deposited films. Between 36 and 48 at.%Ge, high-temperature hexagonal nickel germanides were found to occur metastabily below 300 °C, both on SiO 2 and Ge (100) substrates. For Ge concentrations in the range between 36 and 42 at.%, this hexagonal germanide phase was even found to be present at room temperature in the as-deposited films. The results obtained in this work could provide more insight in the phase sequence of a pure Ni film on Ge. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Phase formation in intermixed Ni–Ge thin films: Influence of Ge content and low-temperature nucleation of hexagonal nickel germanides journaltitle: Microelectronic Engineering articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2013.09.004 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.status: publishe