Epitaxial silicide formation on recoil-implanted substrates.

An epitaxy-on-recoil-implanted-substrate (ERIS) technique is presented. A disordered surface layer, generated by forward recoil implantation of ∼0.7-3×10¹⁵ cm^-2 of oxygen during Ar plasma etching of surface oxide, is shown to facilitate the subsequent epitaxial growth of ∼25–35-nm-thick CoSi₂ layers on Si(100). The dependence of the epitaxial fraction of the silicide on the recoil-implantation parameters is studied in detail. A reduction in the silicide reaction rate due to recoil-implanted oxygen is shown to be responsible for the observed epitaxial formation, similar to mechanisms previously observed for interlayer-mediated growth techniques. Oxygen is found to remain inside the fully reacted CoSi₂ layer, likely in the form of oxide precipitates. The presence of these oxide precipitates, with only a minor effect on the sheet resistance of the silicide layer, has a surprisingly beneficial effect on the thermal stability of the silicide layers. The agglomeration of ERIS-grown silicide layers on polycrystalline Si is significantly suppressed, likely from a reduced diffusivity due to oxygen in the grain boundaries. The implications of the present technique for the processing of deep submicron devices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]