Local mechanical stress induced defects for Ti and Co/Ti silicidation in sub-0.25 /spl mu/m MOS-technologies

/spl mu/-Raman spectroscopy (/spl mu/RS) measurements of local mechanical stress in the Si induced by salicidation have been combined with simulations by Finite Element Modeling (FEM) down to 0.1 /spl mu/m. The experiments prove that the difference in material properties of TiSi/sub 2/ and CoSi/sub 2/ can yield very different stress levels in the Si underneath the silicide. These stress levels become critical for sub-0.25 /spl mu/m processes and can result in generation of dislocation loops. Therefore, the mechanical characteristics related to the silicide formation technology become a critical parameter in the optimization of the silicide process.