Properties and structure of coevaporated NbSi2

This paper will investigate the properties and structure of coevaporated NbSi2 under a variety of annealing times and temperatures. Data from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in situ vacuum annealing, conventional furnace annealing, and infrared rapid thermal annealing will be presented. The temperatures in this study ranged from room temperature to 950 °C for these annealing techniques. The results obtained in this work will be contrasted to those obtained for other interconnect materials such as polysilicon and refractory metal silicides.