We report on the epitaxial growth of CoSi2 on silicon using ion beam synthesis and molecular beam allotaxy. The latter process uses molecular beam epitaxy to grow a silicide precipitate distribution embedded in single crystalline silicon and thermal annealing to form the epitaxial layer. Both, ion beam synthesis and molecular beam allotaxy, are capable to grow epitaxial buried and surface CoSi2 layers on Si(100) and Si(111) of high quality.

A novel method for patterning of silicide layers based on local oxidation is presented. We investigated unifom and local oxidation of epitaxial CoSi2 layers on Si(100). During thermal oxidation of CoSi2 a SiO2 surface layer forms and the silicide layer moves deeper into the substrate. Single crystalline CoSi2 layers on Si(100) remain single crystalline even if they are shifted into the substrate several hundred nm. Local oxidation of such a silicide layer allows lateral patterning of the silicide. The oxidized regions of the silicide layer are pushed inwards and separate from the surface layer at a critical oxidation time. This allows the formation of buried patterned silicides or metallized mesa structures. The technique seems to be also applicable for polycrystalline silicides.