Characterization of Titanium Silicide Contacts Deposited on Semiconducting Diamond Substrates

The first results pertaining to the growth and characterization of titanium silicide contacts deposited on natural semiconducting diamond substrates are reported. The titanium silicide films were formed by the co-deposition of silicon and titanium in ultra-high vacuum by electron-beam evaporation in a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system. The grown layers have been characterized using Raman spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and current-voltage (I-V) techniques. In particular, it has been shown from I-V measurements taken at room temperature that the titanium silicide film forms a low-barrier rectifying contact. Consistent with the observed low-barrier height, the corresponding I-V measurements recorded at 400°C exhibit ohmic-like behavior. However, on subsequent annealing of the titanium silicide contacts at 1100°C, stable rectifying I-V characteristics were observed in the 25 -400°C temperature range.