skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Impact of laser anneal on NiPt silicide texture and chemical composition

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4985279· OSTI ID:1409558
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [4];  [4];  [4];  [4];  [5]
  1. STMicroelectronics, Crolles Cedex (France); Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble (France)
  2. IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA (United States); IBM, Crolles Cedex (France)
  3. IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States)
  4. STMicroelectronics, Crolles Cedex (France)
  5. Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble (France)

We have combined synchrotron X-ray pole figure measurements and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) nano-beam diffraction to study the impact of millisecond laser anneal on the texture and microstructure of NiPt silicide thin films. The powerful use of nano-beam diffraction in plan-view geometry allows here for both a mapping of grain orientation and intra-grain measurements even if these crystalline grains become very small. With this unique combination of local and large-scale probes, we find that silicide formation on n and p doped substrates using laser annealing results in smaller grains compared with the films processed using standard rapid thermal annealing. The laser annealed samples also result in grains that are more epitaxially oriented with respect to the Si substrate. For n-type substrate, the film is dominated by (020) and (013) oriented fibers with significant levels of intra-grain bending (transrotation) observed in both types of grains. For p-type substrates, mostly epitaxially aligned grains are detected. TEM coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis was also used to study the elemental distribution in the silicide samples. Furthermore, we confirm that laser anneal leads to a larger accumulation of platinum at the silicide-substrate interface and modifies the distribution of dopants throughout the film.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704; AC02-98CH10886
OSTI ID:
1409558
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1372507
Report Number(s):
BNL-114610-2017-JA
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 121, Issue 22; ISSN 0021-8979
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 5 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (33)

Silicide yield improvement with NiPtSi formation by laser anneal for advanced low power platform CMOS technology conference December 2009
NiPt silicide agglomeration accompanied by stress relaxation in NiSi(010) ∥ Si(001) grains journal March 2015
Height-resolved quantification of microstructure and texture in polycrystalline thin films using TEM orientation mapping journal December 2015
Schottky-Barrier Height Tuning by Means of Ion Implantation Into Preformed Silicide Films Followed by Drive-In Anneal journal July 2007
Dealing With Multiple Grains in TEM Lamellae Thickness for Microstructure Analysis Using Scanning Precession Electron Diffraction journal August 2015
Grain detection from 2d and 3d EBSD data—Specification of the MTEX algorithm journal December 2011
Enhancement of thermal stability of NiSi films on (100)Si and (111)Si by Pt addition journal September 1999
Impact of platinum incorporation on thermal stability and interface resistance in NiSi/Si junctions based on first-principles calculation conference December 2008
Ultra Low Contact Resistivities for CMOS Beyond 10-nm Node journal June 2013
Towards implementation of a nickel silicide process for CMOS technologies journal November 2003
Direct epitaxial growth of θ-Ni2Si by reaction of a thin Ni(10at.% Pt) film with Si(100) substrate journal May 2014
Metastable phase formation during the reaction of Ni films with Si(001): The role of texture inheritance journal May 2010
Effects of temperature dependent pre-amorphization implantation on NiPt silicide formation and thermal stability on Si(100) journal April 2013
Gas cluster ion beam assisted NiPt germano-silicide formation on SiGe journal April 2016
Thermal expansion of the isostructural PtSi and NiSi: Negative expansion coefficient in NiSi and stress effects in thin films journal March 2003
Effects of additive elements on the phase formation and morphological stability of nickel monosilicide films journal November 2006
Dopant diffusivity and solubility in nickel silicides journal January 2011
Combination of in situ straining and ACOM TEM: A novel method for analysis of plastic deformation of nanocrystalline metals journal May 2013
Three dimensional reciprocal space measurement by x-ray diffraction using linear and area detectors: Applications to texture and defects determination in oriented thin films and nanoprecipitates
  • Gaudet, Simon; De Keyser, Koen; Lambert-Milot, Samuel
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 31, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4789984
journal March 2013
Influence of Pt addition on the texture of NiSi on Si(001) journal May 2004
Texture Analysis with MTEX – Free and Open Source Software Toolbox journal February 2010
Texture transition in Cu thin films: Electron backscatter diffraction vs. X-ray diffraction journal September 2006
Orientation and Phase Mapping in TEM Microscopy (EBSD-TEM Like): Applications to Materials Science journal March 2012
The thermally-induced reaction of thin Ni films with Si: Effect of the substrate orientation journal December 2011
Automated crystal orientation and phase mapping in TEM journal December 2014
Pt redistribution during Ni(Pt) silicide formation journal December 2008
Role of the early stages of Ni-Si interaction on the structural properties of the reaction products journal September 2013
Correlation of Schottky-Barrier Height and Microstructure in the Epitaxial Ni Silicide on Si(111) journal May 1985
Texture in thin film silicides and germanides: A review journal September 2016
Challenges of nickel silicidation in CMOS technologies journal April 2015
An off-normal fibre-like texture in thin films on single-crystal substrates journal December 2003
Grain Boundary Character Distribution of Nanocrystalline Cu Thin Films Using Stereological Analysis of Transmission Electron Microscope Orientation Maps journal February 2013
Texture characterization of the NiSi film on Si substrate journal June 2013

Cited By (1)

The influence of alloying on the phase formation sequence of ultra-thin nickel silicide films and on the inheritance of texture journal May 2018