SEMICONDUCTOR-METAL INTERFACIAL REACTION.

Metal films such as Al, Au, Cu and Pd exhibit interfacial reaction at room temperature with mostly covalent semiconductors whose energy gaps (E//g) are less than approximately 2. 5 ev or which have dielectric constants ( epsilon ) larger than approximately 8. A model of the mechanism - especially the triggering mechanism - of this interfacial intermixing reaction at room temperature is proposed. The model is based on the theoretical consideration of the role of metal on the covalent semiconductor in inducing instability in the cohesive mechanism with the result of facilitating the reaction. Experimental results which are consistent with the model constructed by the author and his coworkers are described.