Low thermal budget NiSi films on SiGe alloys

Nickel silicides were formed on Si (100) substrates and CVD grown Si0.9Ge0.1/Si layers by low thermal budget annealing of evaporated Ni films to evaluate their utility for ultra shallow junctions. The phase formation and microstructure of silicides formed using conventional furnace and rapid thermal annealing were studied by x-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering (RBS), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy. RBS simulations and XPS study revealed the formation of a ternary nickel germanosilicide phase for the SiGe alloy. The incorporation of Ge resulted in a higher temperature window for the stability of low-resistive monosilicide phase. Electrical properties of the grown silicides were characterized by four-probe resistivity and contact resistance measurements.