• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.10-10
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• 2008

Silicide is inevitable for CMOSFETs to reduce RC delay by reducing the sheet resistance of gate and source/drain regions. Ni-silicide is a promising material which can be used for the 65nm CMOS technologies. Ni-silicide was proposed in order to make up for the weak points of Co-silicide and Ti-silicide, such as the high consumption of silicon and the line width limitation. Low resistivity NiSi can be formed at low temperature ($\sim500^{\circ}C$) with only one-step heat treat. Ni silicide also has less dependence of sheet resistance on line width and less consumption of silicon because of low resistivity NiSi phase. However, the low thermal stability of the Ni-silicide is a major problem for the post process implementation, such as metalization or ILD(inter layer dielectric) process, that is, it is crucial to prevent both the agglomeration of mono-silicide and its transformation into $NiSi_2$. To solve the thermal immune problem of Ni-silicide, various studies, such as capping layer and inter layer, have been worked. In this paper, the Ni-silicide utilizing Pd stacked layer (Pd/Ni/TiN) was studied for highly thermal immune nano-scale CMOSFETs technology. The proposed structure was compared with NiITiN structure and showed much better thermal stability than Ni/TiN.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.389-393
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• 2004

The silicide layer used as a diffusion barrier in microelectronics is typically required to be below 50 nm-thick and, the same time, the silicides also need to have low contact resistance without agglomeration at high processing temperatures. We fabricated Si(100)/15 nm-Ni/15 nm-Co samples with a thermal evaporator, and annealed the samples for 40 seconds at temperatures ranging from $700^{\circ}C$ to $1100^{\circ}C$ using rapid thermal annealing. We investigated microstructural and compositional changes during annealing using transmission electron microscopy and auger electron spectroscopy. Sheet resistance of the annealed sample stack was measured with a four point probe. The sheet resistance measurements for our proposed Co/Ni composite silicide was below 8 $\Omega$/sq. even after annealing $1100^{\circ}C$, while conventional nickel-monosilicide showed abrupt phase transformation at $700^{\circ}C$. Microstructure and auger depth profiling showed that the silicides in our sample consisted of intermixed phases of $CoNiSi_{x}$ and NiSi. It was noticed that NiSi grew rapidly at the silicon interface with increasing annealing temperature without transforming into $NiSi_2$. Our results imply that Co/Ni composite silicide should have excellent high temperature stability even in post-silicidation processes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.15-16
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• 2006

The thermal stability of nickel silicide with compressively and tensilely stressed nitride capping layer has been investigated in this study. The Ni (10 nm) and Ni/Co/TiN (7/3/25 nm) structures were deposited on the p-type Si substrate. The stressed capping layer was deposited using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) after silicide formation by one-step rapid thermal process (RTP) at $500^{\circ}C$ for 30 sec. It was found that the thermal stability of nickel silicide depends on the stress induced by the nitride capping layer. In the case of Ni (10 nm) structure, the high compressive sample shows the best thermal stability, whereas in the case of Ni/Co/TiN (7/3/25 nm) structure, the high compressive sample shows the worst thermal stability.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.16-17
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• 2006

In this paper, Ni-V alloy was studied with different structures and thickness. In case of Ni-V and Ni-V/Co/TiN, low resistive Ni silicide was formed after one step RTP (Rapid Thermal Process) with temperature range from $400^{\circ}C$ to $600^{\circ}C$ for 30sec in vacuum. After furnace annealing with temperatures range from $550^{\circ}C$ to $650^{\circ}C$ for 30min in nitrogen ambient, Ni-V single structure shows the best thermal stability compare with the other ones. To enhance the thermal stability up to 650oC and find the optimal thickness of Ni silicide, different thickness of Ni-V was studied in this work. Stable sheet resistance was obtained through Ni-V single structure with optimal Ni-V thickness.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.89-94
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• 2005

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.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.769-774
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• 2004

15 nm-Co/15 nm-Ni/P-Si(100)[Type I] and 15 nm-Ni/15 nm-Co/P-Si(100)(Type II) bilayer structures were annealed using a rapid thermal annealer for 40sec at $700/sim1100^{\circ}C$. The annealed bilayer structures developed into composite NiCo silicides and resulting changes in sheet resistance, composition and microstructure were investigated using Auger electron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Prepared NiCoSix films were further treated in a sequential annealing set up from $900\sim1100^{\circ}C$ with 30 minutes. The sheet resistances of NiCoSix from Type I maintained less than $7\;{\Omega}/sq$. even at the temperature of $1100{\circ}C$, while those of Type II showed about $5\;{\Omega}/sq$. with the thinner and more uniform thickness. With the additive post annealing, the sheet resistance for all the composite silicides remained small up to $900^{\circ}C$. The proposed NiCoSix films were superior over the conventional single-phased silicides and may be easily incorporated into the sub-0.1 ${\mu}m$ process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.438-439
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• 2013

Microelectronic devices의 접촉저항의 향상을 위해 Metal silicides의 형성 mechanism과 전기적 특성에 대한 연구가 많이 이루어지고 있다. 지난 수십년에 걸쳐, Ti silicide, Co silicide, Ni silicide 등에 대한 개발이 이루어져 왔으나, 계속적인 저저항 접촉 소재에 대한 요구에 의해 최근에는 Rare earth silicide에 관한 연구가 시작되고 있다. Rare-earth silicide는 저온에서 silicides를 형성하고, n-type Si과 낮은 schottky barrier contact (~0.3 eV)를 이룬다. 또한, 비교적 낮은 resistivity와 hexagonal AlB2 crystal structure에 의해 Si과 좋은 lattice match를 가져 Si wafer에서 high quality silicide thin film을 성장시킬 수 있다. Rare earth silicides 중에서 ytterbium silicide는 가장 낮은 electric work function을 갖고 있어 낮은 schottky barrier 응용에서 쓰이고 있다. 이로 인해, n-channel schottky barrier MOSFETs의 source/drain으로써 주목받고 있다. 특히 ytterbium과 molybdenum co-deposition을 하여 증착할 경우 thin film 형성에 있어 안정적인 morphology를 나타낸다. 또한, ytterbium silicide와 마찬가지로 낮은 면저항과 electric work function을 갖는다. 그러나 ytterbium silicide에 molybdenum을 화합물로써 높은 농도로 포함할 경우 높은 schottky barrier를 형성하고 epitaxial growth를 방해하여 silicide film의 quality 저하를 야기할 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 ytterbium과 molybdenum의 co-deposition에 따른 silicide 형성과 전기적 특성 변화에 대한 자세한 분석을 TEM, 4-probe point 등의 다양한 분석 도구를 이용하여 진행하였다. Ytterbium과 molybdenum을 co-deposition하기 위하여 기판으로 $1{\sim}0{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$의 비저항을 갖는 low doped n-type Si (100) bulk wafer를 사용하였다. Native oxide layer를 제거하기 위해 1%의 hydrofluoric (HF) acid solution에 wafer를 세정하였다. 그리고 고진공에서 RF sputtering 법을 이용하여 Ytterbium과 molybdenum을 동시에 증착하였다. RE metal의 경우 oxygen과 높은 반응성을 가지므로 oxidation을 막기 위해 그 위에 capping layer로 100 nm 두께의 TiN을 증착하였다. 증착 후, 진공 분위기에서 rapid thermal anneal(RTA)을 이용하여 $300{\sim}700^{\circ}C$에서 각각 1분간 열처리하여 ytterbium silicides를 형성하였다. 전기적 특성 평가를 위한 sheet resistance 측정은 4-point probe를 사용하였고, Mo doped ytterbium silicide와 Si interface의 atomic scale의 미세 구조를 통한 Mo doped ytterbium silicide의 형성 mechanism 분석을 위하여 trasmission electron microscopy (JEM-2100F)를 이용하였다.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.252-258
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• 2013

In this paper, a thermally stable nickel silicide technology using the co-sputtering of nickel and titanium atoms capped with TiN layer is proposed for nano-scale metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) applications. The effects of the incorporation of titanium ingredient in the co-sputtered Ni layer are characterized as a function of Ti sputtering power. The difference between the one-step rapid thermal process (RTP) and two-step RTP for the silicidation process has also been studied. It is shown that a certain proportion of titanium incorporation with two-step RTP has the best thermal stability for this structure.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2004.06b
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• pp.371-374
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• 2004

In this paper, Ni Germane-silicide formed on undoped $Si_{0.8}Ge_{0.2}$ as well as source/drain dopants doped $Si_{0.8}Ge_{0.2}$ was characterized by the four-point probe for sheet resistance. x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). Low resistive NiSiGe is formed by one step RTP (Rapid thermal processing) with temperature range at $500{\~}700^{\circ}C$. To enhance the thermal stability of Ni Germane-silicide, Ni/Co/TiN structure with different Co concentration were studied in this work. Low sheet resistance was obtained by Ni/Co/TiN structure with high Co concentration using 2-step RTP and it almost keeps the same low sheet resistance even after furnace annealing at $650^{\circ}C$ for 30 min.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.619-622
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• 2005

본 논문에서는 서로 다른 Si 두께 ($T_{Si}$ = 27, 50 nm) 를 갖는 SOI (Silicon On Insulator) 기판 위에 다양한 두께의 Ni/Co를 순차적으로 증착한 후 Bulk-Si과의 비교를 통해 Silicide의 형성 특성에 대하여 분석하였다. 우선 급속 열처리 (RTP, Rapid Thermal Processing) 를 통하여 Silicide를 형성한 후 측정결과 Si두께에 따라 Silicide의 특성이 달라짐을 확인하였다. 두꺼운 두께의 Si-film을 갖는 SOI 기판을 사용한 경우 증착된 금속의 두께에 따라 Bulk-Si와 비슷한 면저항 특성을 보였으나, 얇은 두께의 Si-film을 갖는 SOI기판을 사용한 경우에는 제한된 Si의 공급으로 인한 Silicide의 비저항 증가로 인하여 증착된 금속의 두께에 따라 면저항이 감소하다가 다시 증가하는 'V' 자형 곡선을 나타내었다.