TY - JOUR
T1 - Atomic-scale silicidation of low resistivity Ni-Si system through in-situ TEM investigation
AU - Hou, An Yuan
AU - Ting, Yi Hsin
AU - Tai, Kuo Lun
AU - Huang, Chih Yang
AU - Lu, Kuo Chang
AU - Wu, Wen Wei
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the support by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan through grants 105-2628-E-006-002-MY3, 106-2628-E-009-002-MY3, 106-2119-M-009-008, 107-3017-F-009-002, 108-2221-E-006-139-MY3. This work was financially supported by the “Center for Semiconductor Technology Research” from the Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan. Also supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, under Grant MOST-109-2634-F-009-029.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/2/1
Y1 - 2021/2/1
N2 - Nickel silicide has many advantages, such as low resistivity and low formation temperature; therefore, it has been widely used in the fields of solar cells, transistors and complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor (CMOS) devices. To obtain high-quality nickel-silicide thin film, solid-state reaction is a convenient and efficient fabrication method. For better understanding of the dynamic formation mechanism, we used in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to record the diffusion behavior during the heating process. In this work, three-steps annealing process to synthesize different nickel silicides corresponding to the various formation temperatures were investigated systematically. At 250 °C, the product of the first-step annealing was inverted-triangle Ni2Si, embedded in the Si substrate. Then, well-distributed NiSi thin film was synthesized, having the lowest resistivity among Ni-Si system at 400 °C. Finally, NiSi2, a Si-rich product, would form during the third-step annealing at 600 °C. NiSi2 product and Si substrate have small lattice mismatch; thus, the epitaxial relationship would be observed. We provide the evidence of diffusion behaviors and structural identification of Ni-Si system. Furthermore, these results are beneficial for the formation of specific nickel silicides, which is expected to optimize the fabrication of microelectronics.
AB - Nickel silicide has many advantages, such as low resistivity and low formation temperature; therefore, it has been widely used in the fields of solar cells, transistors and complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor (CMOS) devices. To obtain high-quality nickel-silicide thin film, solid-state reaction is a convenient and efficient fabrication method. For better understanding of the dynamic formation mechanism, we used in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to record the diffusion behavior during the heating process. In this work, three-steps annealing process to synthesize different nickel silicides corresponding to the various formation temperatures were investigated systematically. At 250 °C, the product of the first-step annealing was inverted-triangle Ni2Si, embedded in the Si substrate. Then, well-distributed NiSi thin film was synthesized, having the lowest resistivity among Ni-Si system at 400 °C. Finally, NiSi2, a Si-rich product, would form during the third-step annealing at 600 °C. NiSi2 product and Si substrate have small lattice mismatch; thus, the epitaxial relationship would be observed. We provide the evidence of diffusion behaviors and structural identification of Ni-Si system. Furthermore, these results are beneficial for the formation of specific nickel silicides, which is expected to optimize the fabrication of microelectronics.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.148129
DO - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.148129
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85092490588
VL - 538
JO - Applied Surface Science
JF - Applied Surface Science
SN - 0169-4332
M1 - 148129
ER -