• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.614-618
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• 2006

The thermal stability of Cu/Ti(or Ta)/NiSi contacts was investigated. Ti(Ta)-capping layers deposited to form NiSi was utilized as the Cu diffusion barrier. Ti(Ta)/NiSi contacts was thermally stable upto $600^{\circ}C$. However when Cu/Ti(Ta)/NiSi contacts were furnace-annealed at $300{\sim}400^{\circ}C$ for 40 min., the Cu diffusion was found to be effectively suppressed, but NiSi was dissociated and then Ni diffused into the Cu layer to form Cu-Ni solutions. On the other hand, the Ni diffusion did not occur for the Al/Ti/NiSi system. The thermal instability of Cu/Ti(Ta)/NiSi contacts was attributed to the high heat of solution of Ni in Cu.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.338-343
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• 2010

As an alternative to the W plug used in MOSFETs, a Cu plug with a NiSi contact using Ta / TaN as a diffusion barrier is currently being considered. Conventionally, Ni was first deposited and then NiSi was formed, followed by the barrier and Cu deposition. In this study, Ti was employed as a barrier material and simultaneous formation of the NiSi contact and Cu plug / Ti barrier was attempted. Cu(100 nm) / Ti / Ni(20 nm) with varying Ti thicknesses were deposited on a Si substrate and annealed at $4000^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. For comparison, Cu/Ti/NiSi thin films were also formed by the conventional method. Optical Microscopy (OM), Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM), X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD), and Auger Electron Microscopy (AES) analysis were performed to characterize the inter-diffusion properties. For a Ti interlayer thicker than 50 nm, the NiSi formation was incomplete, although Cu diffusion was inhibited by the Ti barrier. For a Ti thickness of 20 nm and less, an almost stoichiometric NiSi contact along with the Cu plug and Ti barrier layers was formed. The results were comparable to that formed by the conventional method and showed that this alternative process has potential as a formation process for the Cu plug/Ti barrier/NiSi contact system.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.463-468
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• 2007

The interdiffusion characteristics of Cu-plug/Capping Layer/NiSi contacts were investigated. Capping layers were deposited on Ni/Si to form thermally-stable NiSi and then were utilized as diffusion barriers between Cu/NiSi contacts. Four different capping layers such as Ti, Ta, TiN, and TaN with varying thickness from 20 to 100 nm were employed. When Cu/NiSi contacts without barrier layers were furnace-annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ for 40 min., Cu diffused to the NiSi layer and formed $Cu_3Si$, and thus the NiSi layer was dissociated. But for Cu/Capping Layers/NiSi, the Cu diffusion was completely suppressed for all cases. But Ni was found to diffuse into the Cu layer to form the Cu-Ni(30at.%) solid solution, regardless of material and thickness of capping layers. The source of Ni was attributed to the unreacted Ni after the silicidation heat-treatment, and the excess Ni generated by the transformation of $Ni_2Si$ to NiSi during long furnace-annealing.