1. Work function of Ni3Si2 on HfSixOy and SiO2 and its implication for Ni fully silicided gate applications.
- Author
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Kittl, J. A., O'Sullivan, B. J., Kaushik, V. S., Lauwers, A., Pawlak, M. A., Hoffmann, T., Demeurisse, C., Vrancken, C., Veloso, A., Absil, P., and Biesemans, S.
- Subjects
ELECTRON work function ,DIELECTRICS ,THIN films ,SILICIDES ,SILICON compounds - Abstract
The effective work function (WF) of Ni
3 Si2 was evaluated on HfSix Oy and SiO2 dielectrics. Ni3 Si2 forms, in thin film Ni–Si diffusion couples with Ni to Si composition ratios between 1 and 2, after formation of a Ni2 Si/NiSi stack and by its reaction at moderate thermal budgets (comparable to those used in back end processing of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor circuits). Ni3 Si2 formation limits, on the Ni-rich side, the process window for NiSi fully silicided (FUSI) gates (NiSi at interface with dielectric) to reacted Ni–Si ratios <1.5. The WF of Ni3 Si2 was found to have similar values and behavior to that of NiSi, both on SiO2 (showing similar modulation with dopants) and on HfSix Oy , in contrast to Ni-richer silicides such as Ni2 Si and Ni31 Si12 which do not exhibit significant WF modulation with dopants on SiO2 and have considerably higher WF on HfSix Oy . This suggests that the chemistry and structure of the original NiSi/dielectric interface are not modified significantly by the subsequent growth of Ni3 Si2 and implies that its formation may be tolerable when targeting NiSi FUSI gates, thereby expanding the process window for this application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2007
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