Fabrication of topographically microstructured titanium silicide interface for advanced photonic applications

Abstract

We present a widely scalable, high temperature post-growth annealing method for converting ultra-thin films of TiO2 grown by atomic layer deposition to topographically microstructured titanium silicide (TiSi). The photoemission electron microscopy results reveal that the transformation from TiO2 to TiSi at 950 °C proceeds via island formation. Inside the islands, TiO2 reduction and Si diffusion play important roles in the formation of the highly topographically microstructured TiSi interface with laterally nonuniform barrier height contact. This is advantageous for efficient charge transfer in Si-based heterostructures for photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical applications.