Diffusion structures in Mo vs. Si solid-solid diffusion couples

Silicides of refractory metals have been employed in a wide variety of industrial applications ranging from electronics to aerospace technology. Silicide films are employed extensively in the electronics industry as contacts and interconnects in integrated silicon devices. Interest in silicides and silicide-based composites for high temperature applications has been renewed in recent years. MoSi2 possesses many of the favorable properties that are required for a high temperature material. MoSi2 has a high melting point, low density, excellent high temperature oxidation and corrosion resistance, and it exhibits metallic-like thermal and electrical conductivity. A few studies have been carried out on the growth of silicides in the Mo vs. Si system but have reported different results on layer growth kinetics. The objective of the present study was to investigate diffusion structures in Mo vs. Si solid-solid diffusion couples annealed at selected temperatures between 900--1,350 C and to explore the stoichiometry and texture of the MoSi2 diffusion layer