Effect of Pt film thickness on PtSi formation and film surface morphology

The effect of Pt film thickness on the formation of platinum silicide (PtSi) phase, distribution of silicides, and surface morphology of PtSi/Si films was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was shown that when the film structure was changed from PtSi/Si to Pt/Pt2Si+PtSi/PtSi/Si, the film morphology changed from a smooth surface to a coarse columnar structure with the increase of the Pt film thickness.