Nickel silicides include several

intermetallic An intermetallic (also called an intermetallic compound, intermetallic alloy, ordered intermetallic alloy, and a long-range-ordered alloy) is a type of metallic alloy that forms an ordered solid-state compound between two or more metallic elemen ...

compounds of

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

and

silicon Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic tab ...

. Nickel silicides are important in

microelectronics Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture (or microfabrication) of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-sc ...

as they form at junctions of nickel and silicon. Additionally thin layers of nickel silicides may have application in imparting surface resistance to nickel alloys.

Compounds

Nickel silicides include Ni₃Si, Ni₃₁Si₁₂, Ni₂Si, Ni₃Si₂, NiSi and NiSi₂. Ni₃₁Si₁₂, Ni₂Si, and NiSi have congruent melting points; the others form via a

peritectic A eutectic system or eutectic mixture ( ) is a homogeneous mixture that has a melting point lower than those of the constituents. The lowest possible melting point over all of the mixing ratios of the constituents is called the ''eutectic tempe ...

transformation. The silicides can be made via fusion or solid state reaction between the elements, diffusion at a junction of the two elements, and other methods including ion beam mixing.

Properties

Nickel silicides are generally chemically and thermally stable. They have low electrical resistivity; with NiSi 10.5–18 μΩ·cm, Ni₂Si 24–30 μΩ·cm, NiSi₂ 34–50 μΩ·cm; nickel-rich silicides have higher resistivity rising to 90–150 μΩ·cm in Ni₃₁Si₁₂.

Uses

Microelectronics

Nickel silicides are important in microelectronic devices – specific silicides are good conductors, with NiSi having a conductivity approaching that of elemental nickel. With

silicon carbide Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as carborundum (), is a hard chemical compound containing silicon and carbon. A semiconductor, it occurs in nature as the extremely rare mineral moissanite, but has been mass-produced as a powder and crystal sin ...

as the semiconductor nickel reacts at elevated temperatures to form nickel silicides and

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

Other

Nickel silicides have potential as coatings for nickel-based

superalloy A superalloy, or high-performance alloy, is an alloy with the ability to operate at a high fraction of its melting point. Several key characteristics of a superalloy are excellent mechanical strength, resistance to thermal creep deformation, g ...

s and

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

, due to their corrosion, oxidation, and wear resistance. NiSi has been investigated as a

hydrogenation Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a Catalysis, catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to redox, reduce or S ...

catalyst for

unsaturated hydrocarbon 300px, Structure of an ethene molecule, the simplest unsaturated hydrocarbon Unsaturated hydrocarbons are hydrocarbons that have double or triple covalent bonds between adjacent carbon atoms. The term "unsaturated" means more hydrogen atoms may ...

s. Nickel silicide nanoparticles supported on silica support have been suggested as an alternative

catalyst Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

to widely used

pyrophoric A substance is pyrophoric (from grc-gre, πυροφόρος, , 'fire-bearing') if it ignites spontaneously in air at or below (for gases) or within 5 minutes after coming into contact with air (for liquids and solids). Examples are organolith ...

Raney nickel.P. Ryabchuk, G. Agostini, M.-M. Pohl, H. Lund, A. Agapova, H. Junge, K. Junge and M. Beller, Sci. Adv., 2018, 4, eaat0761 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat0761

Compounds

Properties

Uses

Microelectronics

Other

See also

References

Further reading