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Lateral diffusion couples of Ni on Si layers and Si on Ni layers were used in conjunction with scanning electron microprobe measurements to investigate the growth of Ni silicides in the temperature range 400–700 °C. The phase Ni2Si grows proportional to (time)1/2 until a length of 25–30 μm (at 600 °C) where the phase sequence Ni5Si2, Ni2Si, Ni3Si2, and NiSi is observed. Both Ni and Si diffuse through Ni2Si with an effective diffusion coefficient D≃0.02 cm2/s ×exp[−(1.4±0.1) eV/kT]. The diffusion of Si was also observed by the growth of Ni2Si in Ni films at the periphery of contact openings in SiO2 layers on Si.

The Pd2Si growth kinetics for evaporated Pd films on (111) Si have been investigated by means of 2 MeV 4He+ backscattering spectrometry for as‐deposited and high dose H implanted samples in the 200–250 °C temperature range. The implantation energy has been chosen so that most of H atoms stop near the Si/Pd interface. The changes in the H distribution in the annealed samples have been investigated by means of the 1H(15N, αγ)12C resonant nuclear reaction. An increase of the growth rate and a decrease of the activation energy of the silicide formation process have been detected in the implanted samples with respect to the as‐deposited ones. The thermal treatment induces a noticeable decrease of H content.

Epitaxial and uniform growth of a 0.6‐μm‐thick silicon layer was obtained in large areas at 530 °C by the dissolution and transport of an evaporated Si layer through an Al film using the Si/Al (evaporated)Si (evaporated) structure. Channeling measurements showed that the grown Si layers are well ordered and epitaxial with the underlying 〈100〉 substrate. The lateral uniformity is verified by scanning electron microscopy and electron microprobe measurements. Electrical measurements indicate that the grown layer is p type with 2×1018 cm−3 hole concentration and 65 cm2/V sec Hall mobility.