Title :
Improvement of junction leakage of nickel silicided junction by a Ti-capping layer
Author :
Hou, Tuo-Hung ; Lei, Tan-Fu ; Chao, Tien-Sheng
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electron. Eng., Nat. Chiao Tung Univ., Hsinchu, Taiwan
Abstract :
A novel NiSi process with a thin Ti-cap layer is proposed, for the first time, to improve the leakage problem of Ni-silicided junction. The Ti-cap samples exhibit a very low leakage current density about 1/spl times/10/sup -9/ A/cm/sup 2/ after 600/spl deg/C annealing, which is one order of magnitude reduction comparing with uncapped samples. From Auger analyzes, it is found that this significant improvement results from suppression of the oxidation of the Ni-silicide during the thermal annealing process.
Keywords :
Auger electron spectra; annealing; current density; integrated circuit interconnections; leakage currents; nickel compounds; rapid thermal annealing; titanium; 600 C; Auger analysis; NiSi; NiSi process; Ti; Ti-capping layer; annealing; junction leakage improvement; leakage current density; oxidation suppression; silicided junction; thermal annealing process; thin Ti-cap layer; Annealing; Chaos; Degradation; Leakage current; Nickel; Oxidation; Silicidation; Silicides; Temperature; Titanium;
Journal_Title :
Electron Device Letters, IEEE
