An In Situ and Ex Situ TEM Study of the Formation of Thin Cobalt Silicide Films by Molecular Beam Epitaxy on the Silicon (100) Surface

The cobalt disilicide/silicon system has potential applications as a metal- base and as a permeable-base transistor(1). Although thin, low defect density, films of CoSi sub 2 on Si(111) have been successfully grown(2), there are reasons to believe that Si(100)/CoSi sub 2 may be better suited to the transmission of electrons at the silicon/silicide interface than Si(111)/CoSi sub 2. A TEM study of the formation of CoSi sub 2 on Si(100) is therefore being conducted. We have previously reported TEM observations on Si(111)/CoSi sub 2 grown both in situ, in an ultra high vacuum (UHV) TEM(3) and ex situ, in a conventional Molecular Beam Epitaxy system(2).