Ni based silicides for 45nm CMOS and beyond

Material issues that impact the applicability of Ni based silicides to CMOS flows were studied, including the excessive silicidation of narrow features, the growth kinetics of Ni2Si and NiSi on single-crystalline and poly-crystalline silicon and the thermal degradation mechanisms. Ni2Si was found to grow by diffusion controlled kinetics with an activation energy of about 1.55 eV on single-crystalline Si. As a result, the excessive silicidation in small features can be reduced in a 2-step Ni-silicide process by reducing the thermal budget of the first RTP step. The mechanisms of thermal degradation of NiSi were studied. Thin NiSi films were found to degrade morphologically while still in the monosilicide phase. Thick NiSi films degrade morphologically at low temperatures and by transformation to NiSi2 at high temperatures. The reaction of Ni with SiGe substrates and the effect of Ge on the thermal degradation of the Ni-germanosilicide were investigated. Activation energies for the thermal degradation of Ni(SiGe) on SiGe were found to be significantly smaller than the values found for the thermal degradation of NiSi on pure Si. The effect of alloying Ni with Pt or Ta was studied. NiSi films alloyed with Pt or Ta are found to be thermally more stable compared to pure NiSi. Alloying with Pt was found to improve the thermal stability of NiSi on narrow poly-Si gates. The kinetics of Ni2Si and NiSi formation on poly silicon were determined as well as their dependence on dopants. The presence of B in high doses was found to slow down the silicide formation significantly. Dopant segregation to the NiSi/oxide interface was observed, which is believed to be responsible for the observed shifts in work function. The sheet resistance of fully Ni-silicided 100 nm poly Si/oxide stacks is found to be stable up to 800 °C.