Abstract
We investigate the reaction stability of cobalt and nickel with side-wall materials of $SiO_2\;and\;Si_3N_4$. We deposited 15nm-Co and 15nm-Ni on $SiO_2(200nm)/p-type$ Si(100) and $Si_3N_4(70 nm)/p-type$ Si(100). The samples were annealed at the temperatures of $700\~1100^{\circ}C$ for 40 seconds with a rapid thermal annealer. The sheet resistance, shape, and composition of the residual materials were investigated with a 4-points probe, a field emission scanning electron microscopy, and an AES depth profiling, respectively. Samples of annealed above $1000^{\circ}C$ showed the agglomeration of residual metals with maze shape and revealed extremely high sheet resistance. The Auger depth profiling showed that the $SiO_2$ substrates had no residual metallic scums after $H_2SO_4$ cleaning while $Si_3N_4$ substrates showed some metallic residuals. Therefore, the $SiO_2$ spacer may be appropriate than $Si_3N_4$ for newly proposed Co/Ni composite salicide process.