Thermal Behavior and Crystallographic Characteristics of an Epitaxial C49- $TiSi_2$ Phase Formed in the Si (001) Substrate by $N_2$ Treatment

The thermal behavior and the crystallographic characteristics of an epitaxial island formed in a Si (001) substrate by , treatment were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). It was found from the analyzed results that the epitaxial was thermally stable even at high temperature of therefore did not transform into the C54-stable phase and did not deform morphologically. HRTEM results clearly showed that the epitaxial phase and Si have the orientation relationship of (060)[001]//(002)[110]Si, and the lattice strain energy at the interface was mostly relaxed by the formation of misfit dislocations. Furthermore, the mechanism on the formation of the epitaxial in Si and stacking faults lying on the (020) plane of the C49 Phase were discussed through the analysis of the HRTEM image and the atomic modeling.