Mixing of nickel and silicon by incoherent-light-pulse annealing

Mixed layers of Ni and Si were formed by pulsed incoherent-light annealing of Ni thin films evaporated on Si substrates. Incoherent light pulse of 36 μs produced in an arc-discharge plasma system was used as the energy source for annealings. A thin layer (300 Å) of amorphous silicon (a-Si) deposited on 800–1000 Å thick Ni films was found to increase light absorption significantly. The light energy needed to form uniform mixing was measured to be about 23 J/cm². Rutherford backscattering and Auger electron spectroscopy techniques were used for qualitative analysis of a-Si/Ni/Si samples. Optimum operating conditions of the light source was determined.