Stability of C49 and C54 phases of TiSi₂ under ion bombardment

Abstract

The transformation of C49 phase TiSi2 to the low resistivity C54 phase is necessary for many microelectronic applications. Here, we report on attempts to decrease this transformation temperature by low-energy ion bombardment at elevated temperature. Ion irradiation was performed using a broad beam Kaufman ion source operated in N2 or Ar gas between 0.1 and 2 keV beam energy, with ion doses ranging from 2.0×1016 to 1.9×1018 ions/cm2, and sample temperatures from 480 °C to 735 °C. For comparison, room-temperature Ar+ implantation at higher energy (105-210 keV) was performed with a dose of 10 16 ions/cm2 with projected ranges within and beyond the TiSi2 layer thickness. Resistivity measurements as a function of temperature, x-ray diffraction, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry were used to determine the composition and phases. Results show that low-energy ion bombardment does not promote the C49-C54 transformation at the temperatures studied, while ion implantation actually raises the temperature for the transformation. In addition, bombardment of C54 TiSi2 does not cause it to revert to the C49 phase, indicating that both phases appear to be surprisingly stable under ion bombardment. Simulations of defect production using the trim code indicate the formation of a higher number of displaced atoms than are usually required to initiate a transformation. We conclude that the defects introduced into C49 TiSi2 by ion bombardment at energies up to 2 keV are either not sufficient to nucleate the C54 phase or they are annealed out too quickly at the temperature needed for C54 phase growth.