Abstract
The effects of stress on the formation of TiSi 2 thin films have been investigated. Compressive stress present in the silicon substrate was found to retard significantly the transformation of high-resistivity C49-TiSi 2 to low-resistivity C54-TiSi 2. On the other hand, the tensile stress present in the silicon substrate was found to promote the formation of C54-TiSi 2. For Ti on stressed (001)Si substrates after rapid thermal annealing (RTA), the thickness of TiSi 2 films was found to decrease and increase with the compressive and tensile stress level, respectively. In addition, the thickness of amorphous interlayers (a-interlayers) between Ti films and silicon substrates was found to be thicker and thinner in the compressively and tensile-stressed samples, respectively. The results indicated that the compressive stress hinders the migration of Si through the Ti/Si interface, so that the transformation of C49- to C54-TiSi 2 is retarded. In contrast, the tensile stress promotes the Si diffusion to facilitate the formation of C54-TiSi 2.
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