• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.615-620
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• 2008

We fabriacted thermal evaporated $10nm-Ni_{1-x}Co_x$(x=0.2, 0.6, and 0.7) films on 70 nm-thick polysilicon substrate with $0.5{\mu}m$ line width. NiCo composite silicide layers were formed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at the temperatures of $700^{\circ}C$ and $1000^{\circ}C$. Then, we checked the microstructure evaluation of silicide patterns. A FIB (focused ion beam) was used to micro-mill the interconnect patterns with low energy condition (30kV-10pA-2 sec). We investigated the possibility of selective removal of silicide layers. It was possible to remove low resistance silicide layer selectively with the given FIB condition for our proposed NiCo composite silicides. However, the silicides formed from $Ni_{40}Co_{60}$ and $Ni_{30}Co_{70}$ composition showed void defects in interconnect patterns. Those void defects hinder the selective milling for the NiCo composite silicides.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.69-79
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• 2008

A composition consisting of 10 nm-Ni/1 nm-Pd/(30 nm or 70 nm-poly)Si was thermally annealed using rapid thermal for 40 seconds at $300{\sim}1100^{\circ}C$ to improve the thermal stability of conventional nickel monosilicide. The annealed bilayer structure developed into $Ni(Pd)Si_x$, and the resulting changes in sheet resistance, microstructure, phase, chemical composition, and surface roughness were investigated. The silicide, which formed on single crystal silicon, could defer the transformation of $NiSi_2$, and was stable at temperatures up to $1100^{\circ}C$. It remained unchanged on polysilicon substrate compared with the sheet resistance of conventional nickel silicide. The silicides annealed at $700^{\circ}C$, formed on single crystal silicon and 30 nm polysilicon substrates exhibited 30 nm-thick uniform silicide layers. However, silicide annealed at $1,000^{\circ}C$ showed preferred and agglomerated phase. The high resistance was due to the agglomerated and mixed microstructures. Through X-ray diffraction analysis, the silicide formed on single crystal silicon and 30 nm polysilicon substrate, showed NiSi phase on the entire temperature range and mixed phases of NiSi and $NiSi_2$ on 70 nm polysilicon substrate. Through scanning probe microscope (SPM) analysis, we confirmed that the surface roughness increased abruptly until 36 nm on 30 nm polysilicon substrate while not changed on single crystal and 70 nm polysilicon substrates. The Pd-inserted nickel monosilicide could maintain low resistance in a wide temperature range and is considered suitable for nano-thick silicide processing.

• 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.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.27-36
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• 2006

We fabricated thermally evaporated 10 nm-Ni/(poly)Si, 10 nm-Ni/l nm-Ir/(poly)Si and 10 nm-Ni/l nm-Pt/(poly)Si films to investigate the thermal stability of nickel monosilicides at the elevated temperatures by rapid annealing them at the temperatures of $300{\sim}1200^{\circ}C$ for 40 seconds. Silicides of 50 nm-thick were formed on top of both the single crystal silicon actives and the polycrystalline silicon gates. A four-point tester was used to examine sheet resistance. A scanning electron microscope and field ion beam were employed for thickness and microstructure evolution characterization. An X-ray diffractometer and an Auger depth profiler were used for phase and composition analysis, respectively. Nickel silicides with platinum have no effect on widening the NiSi stabilization temperature region. Nickel silicides with iridium farmed on single crystal silicon showed a low resistance up to $1200^{\circ}C$ while the ones formed on polycrystalline silicon substrate showed low resistance up to $850^{\circ}C$. The grain boundary diffusion and agglomeration of silicides lowered the NiSi stable temperature with polycrystalline silicon substrates. Our result implies that our newly proposed Ir added NiSi process may widen the thermal process window for nano CMOS process.