Solid state nucleation in the Ti-Si ultrathin film system
We have observed phase nucleation in ultrathin Ti films deposited. upon Si substrates using transmission electron diffraction (TED). After subjecting the samples to vacuum annealing at various temperatures, we find that the first compound phase formed is a metastable super structure of the Si lattice. We present evidence that this phase is the same one seen previously in thicker films which was labeled as “TiSi”.