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The solid-phase reaction of ultrathin (⩽10 nm) Ni films with different Ge substrates (single-crystalline (1 0 0), polycrystalline, and amorphous) was studied. As thickness goes down, thin film texture becomes a dominant factor in both the film’s phase formation and morphological evolution. As a consequence, certain metastable microstructures are epitaxially stabilized on crystalline substrates, such as the ϵ-Ni5Ge3 phase or a strained NiGe crystal structure on the single-crystalline substrates. Similarly, the destabilizing effect of axiotaxial texture on the film’s morphology becomes more pronounced as film thicknesses become smaller. These effects are contrasted by the evolution of germanide films on amorphous substrates, on which neither epitaxy nor axiotaxy can form, i.e. none of the (de)stabilizing effects of texture are observed. The crystallization of such amorphous substrates however, drives the film breakup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on an extensive and detailed study of the silicide reaction of Ni–W alloys on Si(1 0 0). The solid phase reaction when studied over the full composition range reveals the substantial impact of composition and microstructure on the silicide reaction properties, such as the phase formation sequence and formation temperatures. It was found that the microstructure of the as-deposited film depends crucially on the alloy composition, being polycrystalline below 45 at.% W and amorphous above 45 at.% W. The microstructure affects the elemental mobility substantially, resulting in a drastic increase in the silicide reaction temperature in the case of an amorphous thin film. To further investigate the effect of elemental mobility, Si was premixed in the as-deposited alloy, thereby excluding the need for long-range diffusion. As a result, the silicide reaction temperatures were lowered. However, what was more striking was the observation of a bilayer structure for epitaxial NiSi2 in contact with the Si substrate and a W-rich layer residing at the outermost layer at a temperature of only 300 °C. The results stress the importance of the composition and crystalline nature of the as-deposited film, with these being decisive for the reaction sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]