Investigation of titanium silicon and germanium reaction

It has been shown that, across the full range of Si-Ge alloy compositions, C54 Ti(Si_yGe_1-y)₂ will form from the reaction of Ti with Si_xGe_1-x (0≤x≤1.00).X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS) and X-Ray Diffraction (EXRD) have been used to define consistent labeling of the C54 lattice parameters. In C54 Ti(Si_yGe_1-y)₂ the Si and Ge atoms occupy sites equivalent to the Si sites in C54 TiSi₂. The Si and Ge atoms form shells about the Ti atoms that, within error, have Si and Ge occupancies consistent with the net Si and Ge atomic percents as determine by Auger microprobe depth profiled compositional analysis. There is an increase in the Si/Ge ratio (i.e., y > x) in the Titanium Germanosilicide. This increase may be due, in part, to the relative diffusion rates of Si, Ge, and Ti. The morphologies of the reacted films can be divided into three groups based on their similarity to the morphologies of C54 TiSi₂ and C54 TiGe₂ formed from similar solid phase reactions. The morphological groupings indicate that the morphology of the final C54 phase (and probably the reaction path) is strongly related to the Si/Ge content of the film.