Laser microscopy of CoSi2 formation reaction at the CoSi/Si interface

We have for the first time successfully observed the CoSi2 formation process at the CoSi/Si interface by using a laser microscope. From the analysis of the laser microscope images, it is shown that the CoSi2 formation reaction at the CoSi/Si interface in the thin Co-film/Si-substrate structures has the following characteristics. 1)The initial reaction rate is much larger than that of the later reaction stage. 2)It seems that the large initial reaction rate originates in a high density of local seed points. 3)The annealing time dependence of the phase ratio during the later reaction stages shows that the reaction is not diffusion controlled.