• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.1056-1063
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• 2006

Thermal evaporated 10 nm-Ni/l nm-Ir/(or polycrystalline)p-Si(100) and 10 nm-$Ni_{50}Co_{50}$/(or polycrystalline)p-Si(100) films were thermally annealed using rapid thermal annealing fur 40 sec at $300{\sim}1200^{\circ}C$. The annealed bilayer structure developed into Ni(Ir or Co)Si and resulting changes in sheet resistance, microstructure, phase and composition were investigated using a four-point probe, a scanning electron microscopy, a field ion beam, an X-ray diffractometer and an Auger electron spectroscope. The final thickness of Ir- and Co-inserted nickel silicides on single crystal silicon was approximately 20$\sim$40 nm and maintained its sheet resistance below 20 $\Omega$/sq. after the silicidation annealing at $1000^{\circ}C$. The ones on polysilicon had thickness of 20$\sim$55 nm and remained low resistance up to $850^{\circ}C$. A possible reason fur the improved thermal stability of the silicides formed on single crystal silicon substrate is the role of Ir and Co in preventing $NiSi_2$ transformation. Ir and Co also improved thermal stability of silicides formed on polysilicon substrate, but this enhancement was lessened due to the formation of high resistant phases and also a result of silicon mixing during high temperature diffusion. Ir-inserted nickel silicides showed surface roughness below 3 nm, which is appropriate for nano process. In conclusion, the proposed Ir- and Co- inserted nickel silicides may be superior over the conventional nickel monosilicides due to improved thermal stability.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.16-22
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• 2008

We fabricated thermally-evaporated 10 nm-Ni/30 nm and 70 nm Poly-Si/200 nm-$SiO_2/Si$ structures to investigate the thermal stability of nickel silicides formed by rapid thermal annealing(RTA) of the temperature of $300{\sim}1100^{\circ}C$ for 40 seconds. We employed for a four-point tester, field emission scanning electron microscope(FE-SEM), transmission electron microscope(TEM), high resolution X-ray diffraction(HRIXRD), and scanning probe microscope(SPM) in order to examine the sheet resistance, in-plane microstructure, cross-sectional microstructure evolution, phase transformation, and surface roughness, respectively. The silicide on 30 nm polysilicon substrate was stable at temperature up to $900^{\circ}C$, while the one on 70 nm substrate showed the conventional $NiSi_2$ transformation temperature of $700^{\circ}C$. The HRXRD result also supported the existence of NiSi-phase up to $900^{\circ}C$ for the Ni silicide on the 30 nm polysilicon substrate. FE-SEM and TEM confirmed that 40 nm thick uniform silicide layer and island-like agglomerated silicide phase of $1{\mu}m$ pitch without residual polysilicon were formed on 30 nm polysilicon substrate at $700^{\circ}C\;and\;1000^{\circ}C$, respectively. All silicides were nonuniform and formed on top of the residual polysilicon for 70 nm polysilicon substrates. Through SPM analysis, we confirmed the surface roughness was below 17 nm, which implied the advantage on FUSI gate of CMOS process. Our results imply that we may tune the thermal stability of nickel monosilicide by reducing the height of polysilicon gate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2008.08a
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• pp.62-62
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• 2008

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2008.08a
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• pp.137-137
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• 2008

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2007

We investigated the silicide reaction stability between 10 nm-Col-xNix alloy films and silicon substrates with the existence of 4 nm-thick natural oxide layers. We thermally evaporated 10 nm-Col-xNix alloy films by varying $x=0.1{\sim}0.9$ on naturally oxidized single crystal and 70 nm-thick polycrystalline silicon substrates. The films structures were annealed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) from $600^{\circ}C$ to $1100^{\circ}C$ for 40 seconds with the purpose of silicidation. After the removal of residual metallic residue with sulfuric acid, the sheet resistance, microstructure, composition, and surface roughness were investigated using a four-point probe, a field emission scanning electron microscope, a field ion bean4 an X-ray diffractometer, and an Auger electron depth profiling spectroscope, respectively, to confirm the silicide reaction. The residual stress of silicon substrate was also analyzed using a micro-Raman spectrometer We report that the silicide reaction does not occur if natural oxides are present. Metallic oxide residues may be present on a polysilicon substrate at high silicidation temperatures. Huge residual stress is possible on a single crystal silicon substrate at high temperature, and these may result in micro-pinholes. Our results imply that the natural oxide layer removal process is of importance to ensure the successful completion of the silicide process with CoNi alloy films.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.528-537
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• 2008

60 nm and 20 nm thick hydrogenated amorphous silicon(a-Si:H) layers were deposited on 200 nm $SiO_2$/single-Si substrates by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition(ICP-CVD). Subsequently, 30 nm-Ni layers were deposited by an e-beam evaporator. Finally, 30 nm-Ni/(60 nm and 20 nm) a-Si:H/200 nm-$SiO_2$/single-Si structures were prepared. The prepared samples were annealed by rapid thermal annealing(RTA) from $200^{\circ}C$ to $500^{\circ}C$ in $50^{\circ}C$ increments for 40 sec. A four-point tester, high resolution X-ray diffraction(HRXRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy(FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), and scanning probe microscopy(SPM) were used to examine the sheet resistance, phase transformation, in-plane microstructure, cross-sectional microstructure, and surface roughness, respectively. The nickel silicide from the 60 nm a-Si:H substrate showed low sheet resistance from $400^{\circ}C$ which is compatible for low temperature processing. The nickel silicide from 20 nm a-Si:H substrate showed low resistance from $300^{\circ}C$. Through HRXRD analysis, the phase transformation occurred with silicidation temperature without a-Si:H layer thickness dependence. With the result of FE-SEM and TEM, the nickel silicides from 60 nm a-Si:H substrate showed the microstructure of 60 nm-thick silicide layers with the residual silicon regime, while the ones from 20 nm a-Si:H formed 20 nm-thick uniform silicide layers. In case of SPM, the RMS value of nickel silicide layers increased as the silicidation temperature increased. Especially, the nickel silicide from 20 nm a-Si:H substrate showed the lowest RMS value of 0.75 at $300^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.195-200
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• 2007

We fabricated thermally-evaporated 10 nm-Ni/70 w-Poly-Si/200 $nm-SiO_2/Si$ and $10nm-Ni_{0.5}Co_{0.5}/70$ nm-Poly-Si/200 $nm-SiO_2/Si$ structures to investigate the microstructure of nickel monosilicide at the elevated temperatures required fur annealing. Silicides underwent rapid anneal at the temperatures of $600{\sim}1100^{\circ}C$ for 40 seconds. Silicides suitable for the salicide process formed on top of the polycrystalline silicon substrate mimicking the gates. A four-point tester was used to investigate the sheet resistances. A transmission electron microscope and an Auger depth profile scope were employed for the determination of cross sectional microstructure and thickness. 20nm thick nickel cobalt composite silicides on polycrystalline silicon showed low resistance up to $900^{\circ}C$, while the conventional nickle silicide showed low resistance below $900^{\circ}C$. Through TEM analysis, we confirmed that the 70nm-thick nickel cobalt composite silicide showed a unique silicon-silicide mixing at the high silicidation temperature of $1000^{\circ}C$. We identified $Ni_3Si_2,\;CoSi_2$ phase at $700^{\circ}C$ using an X-ray diffractometer. Auger depth profile analysis also supports the presence of this mixed microstructure. Our result implies that our newly proposed NiCo composite silicide from NiCo alloy films process may widen the thermal process window for the salicide process and be suitable for nano-thick silicides.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.12 no.2 s.35
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• pp.149-154
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• 2005

We fabricated Ni/Co(or Co/Ni) composite silicide layers on the non-patterned wafers from Ni(20 nm)/Co(20 nm)/poly-Si(70 nm) structure by rapid thermal annealing of $700{\~}1100^{\circ}C$ for 40 seconds. The sheet resistance, cross-sectional microstructure, and surface roughness were investigated by a four point probe, a field emission scanning electron microscope, and a scanning probe microscope, respectively. The sheet resistance increased abruptly while thickness decreased as silicidation temperature increased. We propose that the poly silicon inversion due to fast metal diffusion lead to decrease silicide thickness. Our results imply that we should consider the serious inversion and fast transformation in designing and process f3r the nano-height fully cobalt nickel composite silicide gates.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.18-22
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• 2008

In this paper, the Ni-Co alloy was used for thermal stability estimation comparison with Ni structure. The proposed Ni/Ni-Co structure exhibited wider range of rapid thermal process windows, lower sheet resistance in spite of high temperature annealing up to $700^{\circ}C$ for 30 min, more uniform interface via FE-SEM analysis, NiSi phase peak. Therefore, The proposed Ni/Ni-Co structure is highly promising for highly thermal immune Ni-silicide for nano-scale MOSFET technology.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.303-310
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• 2008

We fabricated hydrogenated amorphous silicon(a-Si:H) 140 nm thick film on a $180\;nm-SiO_2/Si$ substrate with an inductively-coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition(ICP-CVD) equipment at $250^{\circ}C$. Moreover, 30 nm-Ni film was deposited with a thermal-evaporator sequently. Then the film stack was annealed to induce silicides by a rapid thermal annealer(RTA) at $200{\sim}500^{\circ}C$ in every $50^{\circ}C$ for 30 minuets. We employed a four-point tester, high resolution X-ray diffraction(HRXRD), field emission scanning electron microscope(FE-SEM), transmission electron microscope(TEM), and scanning probe microscope(SPM) in order to examine the sheet resistance, phase transformation, in-plane microstructure, cross-sectional microstructure evolution, and surface roughness, respectively. We confirmed that nano-thick high resistive $Ni_3Si$, mid-resistive $Ni_2Si$, and low resistive NiSi phases were stable at the temperature of <300, $350{\sim}450^{\circ}C$, and >$450^{\circ}C$, respectively. Through SPM analysis, we confirmed the surface roughness of nickel silicide was below 12 nm, which implied that it was superior over employing the glass and polymer substrates.