Annealing of chemically vapor deposited nanoscale Ti-Si islands on Si

Small islands of Ti-Si were formed by chemical vapor deposition onto a Si substrate and subsequently annealed. The islands were deposited in the 610–730 °C temperature range by the H2 reduction of TiCl4, either without or with a Si-containing gas added during deposition. Subsequent annealing above 800 °C decreases the island density significantly, and the islands take characteristic shapes. After annealing, the island size depends only weakly on the amount of Ti deposited while the island density varies more significantly and depends on the addition of a Si-containing gas during deposition. Three different dominant island shapes are seen on Si(001), and different shapes are found on Si(111).