Rapid Detection of Thin-Film Interfacial Reactions by MEMS-DSC

Published

February 19, 2017

Author(s)

Lawrence P. Cook, Richard E. Cavicchi, Yanbao Zhang, Mark D. Vaudin, Christopher B. Montgomery, William F. Egelhoff Jr., Martin L. Green, Leslie Allen

Abstract

A MEMS-based differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) has been used to characterize the Ni/Si interfacial reaction in thin films at ramp rates of 940 C/s and 3760 C/s. The DSC devices were fabricated using CMOS semiconductor processing technology, and were calibrated for temperature and enthalpy using melting of pure metals. Experiments were conducted on both bilayer and multilayer Ni/Si thin film sequences of 200 nm total thickness. Reaction was observed to initiate at 250 C, and progressed rapidly with rising temperature. Reaction times were typically 0.1 s to 0.2 s. Observed reaction enthalpies were consistent with formation of Ni2Si or NiSi at the interface. In the multilayers, evidence for formation of both phases, with separate maxima in the DSC signal, was observed. The potential of the MEMS-DSC approach for combinatorial screening of interfacial stabilities is discussed.

Citation

Applied Physics Letters

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

DSC, interfacial reaction, MEMS, nanocalorimetry, thin film

Citation

Cook, L. , Cavicchi, R. , Zhang, Y. , Vaudin, M. , Montgomery, C. , Egelhoff Jr., W. , Green, M. and Allen, L. (2017), Rapid Detection of Thin-Film Interfacial Reactions by MEMS-DSC, Applied Physics Letters (Accessed October 27, 2025)