Thermal stability of nickel silicide films

In view of their potential application in ULSI technology, nickel silicide films were formed on undoped and doped Si(100) substrates. Nickel films of varying thicknesses were sputter-deposited onto the substrates and silicidation was performed ex-situ by rapid thermal annealing in nitrogen ambient. The electrical sheet resistance of the silicides was studied as a function of film thickness and annealing temperature. The process window for forming the NiSi phase and the thermal stability of the NiSi phase were determined as a function of film thickness.NRC publication: Ye