Solid-phase reactions and optical properties in multilayered nanostructures of Ti/Si on monocrystalline silicon

This work is aimed to demonstrate the potential scopes of the spectroscopic-ellipsometry approach for the studying,of the spontaneous and induced by thermal annealing solid state reactions in (3.0 nm Ti/6.7 nm Si)(20) multilayered film (MLF) with overall nonstoichiometry near TiSi2 deposited onto (100) single-crystalline Si. According to the results of the x-ray diffraction (XRD), the as-deposited Ti/Si MLF looks as amorphous-like one. According to XRD scans, an annealing at 470-1070 K did not cause any visible changes in the MLF structure, while the optical tool reveals definite changes in the MLF structure appeared after annealing at 470 K. Based on different models of the MLF structure and comparing the experimental and modelled optical properties of the Ti/Si MLF, the conclusions on various types of short-range orders in these amorphous-like Ti/Si MLF are made. The qualitative evaluation of the MLF structure after its annealing at 1070 and 1170 K can be made by the use of optical data.