Materials aspects, electrical performance, and scalability of Ni silicide towards sub-0.13 μm technologies

Abstract
Ni-silicide phase formation with and without a Ti capping layer was studied by sheet resistance, x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Ni monosilicide is found to be the stable phase in a temperature range from 400 to 600 °C. At lower temperatures the Ni2Si phase is found to be present. For temperatures higher than 700 °C NiSi is converted into NiSi2. Pyramidal NiSi2 precipitates were found to grow epitaxially along the Si〈111〉 planes for annealing temperatures as low as 310 °C. The epitaxial NiSi2 grains were found to disappear when the annealing temperature is increased. Stress buildup during Ni silicidation was measured in situ and could be correlated to the formation of the different Ni-silicide phases. The stress induced by Ni-monosilicide formation compares favorably to the stress induced by Co disilicide and Ti disilicide. The average silicon consumption required to obtain a certain sheet resistance was found to be 35% lower for Ni monosilicide compared for Co disilicide. It was found that a two-step process is needed to obtain complete conversion to the preferred Ni-monosilicide phase without lateral silicide growth. The sheet resistance of Ni-silicided narrow poly-Si and active area lines was found to be low, even when Ni silicide was formed without a Ti cap. No degradation of the Ni silicide on the narrow poly-Si lines was observed when the silicidation temperature was increased to 600 °C. The reverse bias leakage of shallow Ni-silicided and Co-silicided square diodes was compared for varying junction depths and varying silicide thicknesses. For similar junction depth and similar sheet resistance, a lower reverse bias leakage current was obtained for a Ni-silicided junction compared to its Co-silicided counterpart. This may be attributed to the reduced Si consumption of Ni monosilicide compared to Co disilicide.