In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy Study on the Reaction Kinetics of the Ni/Zr-interlayer/Ge System

The reaction kinetics of the growth of Ni germanide in the Ni/Zr-interlayer/Ge system was investigated using isothermal in situ annealing at three different temperatures in a transmission electron microscope. The growth rate of Ni germanide in the Ni/Zr-interlayer/Ge system was determined to be diffusion controlled and depended on the square root of the time, with the activation energy of $1.04P{\pm}0.04eV$. For the Ni/Zr-interlayer/Ge system, no intermediate or intermixing layer between the Zr-interlayer and Ge substrate was formed, and thus the Ni germanide was formed and grew uniformly due to Ni diffusion through the diffusion path created in the amorphous Zr-interlayer during the annealing process in the absence of any intermetallic compounds. The reaction kinetics in the Ni/Zr-interlayer/Ge system was affected only by the Zr-interlayer.