Crystallization of coevaporated and ion-irradiated amorphous CoSi ₂

Abstract

The crystallization of coevaporated, amorphous CoSi2 with and without ion irradiation has been studied. Without ion irradiation, the crystallization of amorphous CoSi2 is characterized by three-dimensional growth from preexisting nuclei. The crystallization kinetics, described by the Avrami equation, are retarded by irradiating the as-deposited CoSi2 with either Si or Kr ions at liquid nitrogen temperature. The dose dependence of the crystallization kinetics can be divided into two regions. In the low dose regime, the crystallization kinetics decrease sharply with increasing dose, while the mode of crystal growth changes continuously from three-dimensional to two-dimensional growth. In the high dose regime, the crystallization kinetics are only slightly dependent on the irradiation dose. Nucleation occurs throughout the crystallization process and two-dimensional growth dominates.