Stresses in sputtered Ti-Si multilayers and polycrystalline silicide films

Titanium silicon multilayers have been produced by alternating sputter deposition. The stress in the as-deposited layers is a function of the period of the multilayer structure. The multilayers were subsequently annealed to form silicide films. From stress and strain measurements on these films Poisson’s ratio is determined. After annealing, the films exhibit a tensile stress which can be attributed to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between substrate and silicide film.