The authors developed a fabrication technique of Co2FeSi/SiOxNy / Si tunnel junctions, employing
rapid thermal annealing RTA. The full-Heusler Co2FeSi CFS alloy thin film was directly formed
on the ultrathin SiOxNy barrier layer without a buffer layer by RTA-induced silicidation reaction of
a Co/Fe/amorphous-Si multilayer deposited on the barrier layer. The ultrathin SiOxNy layer formed
on a Si substrate effectively blocked the diffusion of Co and Fe atoms into the Si substrate, leading
to the formation of a high quality tunnel junction. It was found from crystallographic analyses that
the CFS film on SiOxNy has a highly 110-oriented texture structure with the L21 ordering and the
CFS/SiOxNy interface was atomically flat without intermixing and crystallinity degradation.