Abstract
Epitaxial growth of CoSi 2 on (111)Si inside two-dimensional and linear oxide openings by rapid thermal annealing has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Both annealing temperature and time were found to be critical in obtaining 100% epitaxy. The size of oxide openings and annealing temperature were found to exert strong influences on the morphology of epitaxial CoSi 2 on silicon. The faceting of CoSi 2 was found to occur at a lower temperature inside oxide openings of smaller size. The change in morphology of epitaxial CoSi 2 with the size of oxide openings in the present study indicated that interfacial energy and/or stress, in addition to the surface energy, are important in determining the morphology of epitaxial CoSi 2 on (111)Si.