It had previously been concluded that asymmetrical diffusion during Pd2Si formation could not be easily explained within the framework of existing theories. Here, an investigation was made of whether observed asymmetries in profile shape after silicidation could be caused by the secondary ion mass spectrometric technique. However, it was not possible to show that the asymmetries were due only to secondary ion mass spectrometric measurements. High-resolution Rutherford back-scattering spectrometry was used to confirm that dopant diffusion really did occur due to silicidation.

M.Wittmer, P.Fahey, J.Cotte, S.S.Iyer, G.J.Scilla: Physical Review B, 1992, 45[19], 11383-6