Effects of additive elements on the phase formation and morphological stability of nickel monosilicide films

Lavoie, C.; Detavernier, Christophe; Cabral, C.; d’Heurle, F. M.; Kellock, A.J.; Jordan-Sweet, Jean; Harper, J. M. E.

doi:10.1016/j.mee.2006.09.006

Cited by 135 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 96 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…700 °C) NiSi degrades either via agglomeration or via phase transformation to the higher resistivity NiSi 2 phase. Addition of a transition metal, Pt, Pd or Rh, has been shown to reduce the agglomeration of thin NiSi films and increase the formation temperature of NiSi 2 [10], and it has been suggested that changes in the bulk free energy due to entropy of mixing can explain this effect [11][12]. The distribution of these transition metal additions and their role in phase stabilization is, however, not well understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three-Dimensional Atom-Probe Tomographic Studies of Nickel Monosilicide/Silicon Interfaces on a Subnanometer Scale

Adusumilli¹,

Murray²,

Lauhon³

et al. 2009

ECS Trans.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Three-dimensional atom-probe tomography was utilized to study the distribution of M (M = Pt or Pd) after silicidation of a solidsolution Ni 0.95 M 0.05 thin-film on Si(100). Both Pt and Pd segregate at the (Ni 1-x M x )Si/Si(100) heterophase interface and may be responsible for the increased resistance of (Ni 1-x M x )Si to agglomeration at elevated temperatures. Direct evidence of Pt short-circuit diffusion via grain boundaries, Harrison regime-B, is found after silicidation to form (Ni 0.99 Pt 0.01 )Si. This underscores the importance of interfacial phenomena in stabilizing this lowresistivity phase, providing insights into the modification of NiSi texture, grain size, and morphology caused by Pt. The relative shift in work function between as-deposited and annealed states is greater for Ni(Pt)Si than for NiSi as determined by Kelvin probe force-microscopy. The nickel monosilicide/Si heterophase interface is reconstructed in three-dimensions and its chemical roughness is evaluated.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three-Dimensional Atom-Probe Tomographic Studies of Nickel Monosilicide/Silicon Interfaces on a Subnanometer Scale

Adusumilli¹,

Murray²,

Lauhon³

et al. 2009

ECS Trans.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While impurities in Si substrate were found to inhibit the formation of Ni silicide, [31][32][33] carbon impurity in the Ni film showed little impact on the silicidation of vacuum deposited Ni thin film. 34 The reason why electrodeposited Co films did not form silicide at 500…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Study on the Electrodeposition and Silicidation of Nickel-Cobalt Alloys for Silicon Photovoltaic Cell Metallization

Huang¹

2015

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Metallization of silicon solar cells using electroplating is of interest recently as a cheaper replacement of silver screen printing. Light assisted electroplating of Nickel-Cobalt (NiCo) alloys were studied on crystalline silicon (Si) solar cells in this paper. The effect of illumination was investigated in conjunction with the light absorption properties of the plating solution, emission spectrum of the light source as well as the plating current. A solution dependent threshold light intensity was observed, beyond which the solar cells were under reverse bias during electroplating. The detailed compositional depth profiles of the silicide layer were studied along the silicidation reaction using microscopic energy dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDS). A significant improvement in the performance degradation at high temperature thermal stress was observed for solar cells metalized with the ternary silicide. The cost of solar energy compared with fossil fuel is one of the key determining parameters in its adoption by the market. Therefore, ways of saving the manufacturing cost of silicon solar cells are of great interest. The current manufacturing process involves a screenprinting process to metalize the front side with silver paste. While the screen-printing process has been integrated into the process flow with standard tooling, it typically suffers from conversion loss due to the low conductivity of the paste and low line height-width aspect ratio. In addition, the high price of silver potentially limits the cost reduction of the solar cell.Replacing the screen-printed Ag with electroplated high aspect ratio Cu grids has been proposed decades ago.1,2 This method has recently gained more attention due to the high price of Ag and the easy integration of Cu electroplating with laser patterning. The selective emitter formed by the in-situ doping during laser patterning 3-5 further eases the process control for metallization and has the potential to improve the conversion efficiency of the solar cell.Different Cu metallization schemes involving electroplating have been reported. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Most of these schemes involve the formation of Ni silicide either from electroless or electrolytic deposited Ni. [8][9][10][11][12][15][16][17] The electrolytic deposition process in these reports typically involves light, so called light induced or light assisted electrodeposition. The formation of silicide lowers the contact resistance between the metal and Si 18 and thus improves the solar cell performance. Ni and Co silicidation has been extensively studied for the application in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) contacts.18-23 The Ni silicidation starts at as low as 300• C for metal rich phases, followed by monosilicide phases around 400• C and silicon rich phases above 800• C. 18 Co silicidation follows a similar phase evolution but at a higher temperature. 24 While the low resistive Co disilicide was originally used in CMOS it suffers from poor nucleation rate and interface roughne...

show abstract

“…By the mid 2000s, consensus was more or less reached on the co-existence of multiple metal-rich phases (observations of d-Ni 2 Si, Ni 31 Si 12 , and Ni 3 Si 2 were reported) that are possibly highly textured. 117,118 However, the growing interest in the texture of these thin silicide films during the past decade and the corresponding development of high resolution XRD pole figure measurements on such films drove researchers to reassess the complex metal-rich phase formation sequence in the NiSi system. In 2010, Gaudet et al published a detailed study on this subject using in situ XRD combined with highresolution pole figures measured on samples quenched at different temperatures during the solid state reaction (see Figures 16 and 17).…”

Section: A Influence On Phase Formationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…% of Pt to the nickel layer results in an improved morphological stability. 118 Furthermore, the addition of Pt has the added advantage that the phase stability of NiSi is also improved (by shifting the nucleation of NiSi 2 to higher temperatures), 19 thus tackling the second degradation mechanism. Details on how the addition of alloying elements can influence the texture and hence the morphological stability of NiSi (and other silicide) films will be discussed in Section V C.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Texture in thin film silicides and germanides: A review

Schutter

Keyser

Lavoie

et al. 2016

Applied Physics Reviews

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Effects of additive elements on the phase formation and morphological stability of nickel monosilicide films

Cited by 135 publications

References 96 publications

Three-Dimensional Atom-Probe Tomographic Studies of Nickel Monosilicide/Silicon Interfaces on a Subnanometer Scale

Three-Dimensional Atom-Probe Tomographic Studies of Nickel Monosilicide/Silicon Interfaces on a Subnanometer Scale

A Study on the Electrodeposition and Silicidation of Nickel-Cobalt Alloys for Silicon Photovoltaic Cell Metallization

Texture in thin film silicides and germanides: A review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About