Rapid annealing of titanium silicide using a graphite strip heater

Abstract

Titanium silicide films cosputtered on a polycrystalline silicon layer over a thermally oxidized silicon wafer were rapidly annealed at various temperatures and times using a graphite strip heater. Sheet resistances comparable with those of furnace annealed samples were obtained using 45-sec anneals at 1000–1200 °C. X-ray diffraction revealed only the formation of a TiSi2 phase, but Rutherford backscattering showed that the amount of excess silicon beyond stoichiometric TiSi2 increased with increasing anneal temperature. Significant increases in the infrared reflectivity spectrum were observed upon annealing which suggests that front side annealing may result in better thermal uniformity across a wafer.