Control of misoriented grains and pinholes in CoSi₂ grown on Si(001)

Two types of growth conditions have been obtained that consistently overcome the formation of epitaxially misoriented grains in CoSi ₂/Si(001). One is by co-deposition of Co and Si at Co-rich ratios at a substrate temperature of ∼500°C. This method yields films of low resistivity (16 μΩ cm) and low ion channeling minimum yield (χ_min≊2%), but the misfit dislocation densities are of the order of 10⁵ cm^-1. The second way uses a template method of growth after an epitaxial Si buffer layer. Films grown this way have somewhat higher resistivities than those grown by the first method, but have lower misfit dislocation densities. The strain relief mechanism in these films also appears to be different from that of co-deposited films. Pinhole densities in films grown by both methods are below our detection limit of 10³ cm^-2.