Shape control of nickel silicide nanocrystals on stress-modified surface

Epitaxial nickel disilicide with low resistivity and excellent reliability

“…However, the poor thermal stability of the nano-scaled thin film has become a serious issue in recent years [12,13]. At high temperatures, NiSi over 10 nm in thickness would easily agglomerate to become nanodots, resulting in the narrowing of the process window [14,15]. Moreover, the rough interface between nano-scaled NiSi and Si would cause an increase of leakage current [16][17][18], and the differences in thermal expansion coefficient and crystal structure between NiSi and Si are large enough to induce dislocations during the formation process [19].…”

Epitaxial silicides: the case of Fe, Ni, and Ti

“…Before loading into the sputtering chamber, the wafers were cleaned using a standard RCA process, followed by dipping into dilute HF to remove contamination and native oxides on the surface. 16,17 Metal films of 30 nm thickness (Fe, Ni, and Ti) were deposited on the wafers by high-power radio-frequency (RF) sputtering. After deposition, the samples were dipped in sulfuric or nitric acid solution to remove redundant metals, leaving a thin metal/Si intermixed layer.…”

A novel silicide and germanosilicide by NiCo alloy for Si and SiGe source/drain contact with improved thermal stability

“…The SiGe substrate was grown in the ultra-high-vacuum chemical vapor deposition system with a buffer layer. Before loading into the sputtering chamber, the wafers were cleaned by a standard cleaning process, 15,16 followed by diluted-HF to remove the native oxide. A 12 nm-thick NiCo (10 at.% of Co) film was sputtered on Si and Si 1−x Ge x (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.5, and 1.0) substrates.…”