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Material and Electrical Characterization of Nickel Silicide-Carbon as Contact Metal to Silicon-Carbon Source and Drain Stressors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Rinus Tek Po Lee ,
Li-Tao Yang ,
Kah-Wee Ang ,
Tsung-Yang Liow ,
Kian-Ming Tan ,
Andrew See-Weng Wong ,
Ganesh S. Samudra ,
Dong-Zhi Chi  and
Yee-Chia Yeo
Rinus Tek Po Lee
Affiliation:
rinuslee@ieee.org, National University of Singapore, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Block E4A #02-04 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore, 117576, Singapore
Li-Tao Yang
Affiliation:
u0308026@nus.edu.sg, National University of Singapore, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Block E4A #02-04 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore, 117576, Singapore
Kah-Wee Ang
Affiliation:
g0404200@nus.edu.sg, National University of Singapore, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Block E4A #02-04 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore, 117576, Singapore
Tsung-Yang Liow
Affiliation:
g0301490@nus.edu.sg, National University of Singapore, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Block E4A #02-04 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore, 117576, Singapore
Kian-Ming Tan
Affiliation:
g0402599@nus.edu.sg, National University of Singapore, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Block E4A #02-04 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore, 117576, Singapore
Andrew See-Weng Wong
Affiliation:
wonga@imre.a-star.edu.sg, Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, 3 Research Link, Singapore, 117602, Singapore
Ganesh S. Samudra
Affiliation:
eleshanr@nus.edu.sg, National University of Singapore, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Block E4A #02-04 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore, 117576, Singapore
Dong-Zhi Chi
Affiliation:
dz-chi@imre.a-star.edu.sg, Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, 3 Research Link, Singapore, 117602, Singapore
Yee-Chia Yeo
Affiliation:
eleyeoyc@nus.edu.sg, National University of Singapore, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Block E4A #02-04 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore, 117576, Singapore
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Abstract

In this paper, the material and electrical characteristics of Nickel-Silicon-Carbon (NiSi:C) films were investigated for the first time to ascertain the compatibility of NiSi:C contacts to silicon-carbon (Si:C) source/drain stressors. The incorporation of 1 atomic percent of carbon was found to increase both the Ni2Si-to-NiSi and NiSi-to-NiSi2 transformation temperatures. Our results show that the incorporation of carbon stabilizes the interfacial and surface morphology of NiSi:C films. We speculate that the incorporated carbon segregates into the NiSi:C grain boundaries and suppresses film agglomeration and NiSi-to-NiSi2 phase transformation. X-ray diffraction analysis further revealed that the formed NiSi:C films possessed a preferred orientation. Current-voltage measurements for NiSi and NiSi:C n+/p junctions exhibit similar cumulative distribution for junction leakage indicating that carbon incorporation does not have a detrimental impact on the n+/p junction integrity. Our results suggest that NiSi:C is a suitable self-aligned contact metal silicide to n-channel MOSFETs with SiC S/D stressors in a similar manner to the way in which NiSiGe is used for p-channel MOSFETs with SiGe S/D stressors.

Keywords

microelectronicsnanoscalenanostructure
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 995: Symposium G – Extending Moore's Law with Advanced Channel Materials , 2007 , 0995-G05-07
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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