Considerable interest has been generated in solid state reactions between thin films of near noble metals and silicon. These metals deposited on Si form numerous stable chemical compounds at low temperatures and have found applications as Schottky barrier contacts to silicon in VLSI devices. Since the very first phase that nucleates in contact with Si determines the barrier properties, the purpose of our study was to investigate the silicide formation of the near noble metals, Pd and Pt, at very thin thickness of the metal films on amorphous silicon.Films of Pd and Pt in the thickness range of 0.5nm to 20nm were made by room temperature evaporation on 40nm thick amorphous Si films, which were first deposited on 30nm thick amorphous Si3N4 membranes in a window configuration. The deposition rate was 0.1 to 0.5nm/sec and the pressure during deposition was 3 x 10 -7 Torr. The samples were annealed at temperatures in the range from 200° to 650°C in a furnace with helium purified by hot (950°C) Ti particles. Transmission electron microscopy and diffraction techniques were used to evaluate changes in structure and morphology of the phases formed as a function of metal thickness and annealing temperature.
Petroleum sludge treatment and disposal: A review
