Study of titanium silicide formation using spike anneal for integrated chip manufacturing

Abstract

The use of spike anneal in titanium salicide process was studied. The area dependence of C49-to-C54 TiSi2 phase transformation was reduced for deep submicron poly-Si gate by having spike anneal during [rapid thermal annealing (RTA)] RTA1 without the use of preamorphizing implant or implant through metal. It is believed that the spike anneal during RTA1 resulted in varying amounts of C54–TiSi2, which then acts as nuclesus that grows during RTA2. Results showed that the spike anneal in RTA1 did not increase the gate to source/drain leakage current for the spike anneal temperature investigated at less than 900 °C. Results, also, show that a one-step RTA Salicide process is possible for larger linewidth devices using spike anneal.