• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.07a
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• pp.288-291
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• 2002

Application of metal silicides such as TiSi$_2$ and CoSi$_2$ as contacts and gate electrodes are being studied. However, TiSi$_2$ due to the linewidth-dependance, and CoSi$_2$ due to the excessive Si consumption during silicidation cannot be applied to the deep-submicron MOSFET device. NiSi shows no such problems and can be formed at the low temperature. But, NiSi shows thermal instability. In this investigation, NiSi was formed with a Ti-capping layer to improve the thermal stability. Ni and Ti films were deposited by the thermal evaporator. The samples were then annealed in the N$_2$ ambient at 300-800$^{\circ}C$ in a RTA (rapid thermal annealing) system. Four point probe, FESEM, and AES were used to study the thermal properties of Ti-capped NiSi layers. The Ti-capped NiSi was stable up to 700$^{\circ}C$ for 100 sec. RTA, while the uncapped NiSi layers showed high sheet resistance after 600$^{\circ}C$. The AES results revealed that the Ni diffusion further into the Si substrate was retarded by the capping layer, resulting in the suppression of agglomeration of NiSi films.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.122-122
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• 2002

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.147-147
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• 2001

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.106-106
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• 2003

반도체 소자의 고집적화에 따라 채널길이와 배선선 폭은 점차 줄어들고, 이에 따라 단채널효과, 소스/드레인에서의 기생저항 증가 및 게이트에서의 RC 시간지연 증가 등의 문제가 야기되었다. 이를 해결하기 위하여 자기정렬 실리사이드화(SADS) 공정을 통해 TiSi2, CoSi2 같은 금속 실리사이드를 접촉 및 게이트 전극으로 사용하려는 노력이 진행되고 있다. 그런데 TiSi2는 면저항의 선폭의존성 때문에, 그리고 CoSi2는 실리사이드 형성시 과도한 Si소모로 인해 차세대 MOSFET소자에 적용하기에는 한계가 있다. 반면, NiSi는 이러한 문제점을 나타내지 않고 저온 공정이 가능한 재료이다. 그러나, NiSi는 실리사이드 형성시 NiSi/Si 계면의 산화와 거침성(roughness) 때문에 높은 누설 전류와 면저항값, 그리고 열적 불안정성을 나타낸다. 한편, 초고집적 소자의 배선재료로는 비저항이 낮고 electro- 및 stress-migration에 대한 저항성이 높은 Cu가 사용될 전망이다. 그러나, Cu는 Si, SiO2, 실리사이드로 확산·반응하여 소자의 열적, 전기적, 기계적 특성을 저하시킨다. 따라서 Cu를 배선재료로 사용하기 위해서는 확산방지막이 필요하며, 확산방지재료로는 Ti, TiN, Ta, TaN 등이 많이 연구되고 있다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.318-322
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• 2005

Ti-capped NiSi contacts were formed on $p^+/n$ junctions to improve the leakage problem and then Cu was deposited without removing the Ti-capping layer in an attempt to utilize as a diffusion barrier. The electrical characteristics of these $p^+/n$ diodes with Cu/Ti/NiSi electrodes were measured as a function of drive-in RTA(rapid-thermal annealing) and silicidation temperature and time. When drive-in annealed at $900^{\circ}C$, 10 sec. and silicided at $500^{\circ}C$, 100 sec., the diodes showed the most excellent I-V characteristics. Especially, the leakage current was $10^{-10}A$, much lower than reported data for diodes with NiSi contacts. However, when the $p^+/n$ diodes with Cu/Ti/NiSi contacts were furnace-annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ for 40 min., the leakage current increased by 4 orders. The FESEM and AES analysis revealed that the Ti-capping layer effectively prohibited the Cu diffusion, but was ineffective against the NiSi dissociation and consequent Ni diffusion.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.460-464
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• 2003

Ni and Ti films were deposited by the thermal evaporator, and then annealed in the N$_2$ ambient at 300-80$0^{\circ}C$ in a RTA(rapid thermal annealing) system. Four point probe, AEM, FESEM, AES, and XPS were used to study the effects of Ti-capping layers on the thermal stability of NiSi thin films. The Ti-capped NiSi was stable up to $700^{\circ}C$ for 100 sec. RTA, while the uncapped NiSi layers showed high sheet resistance after $600^{\circ}C$. These results were due to that the Ni in-diffusion and Si out-diffusion were retarded by the capping layer, resulting in the suppression of the formation of NiSi$_2$and Si grains at the surface.