Abstract
The phase formation and thermal stability of NiSi and NiSi 2 with 20, 16, 8, and 4 nm initial pure Ni thin films on p-type Si(1 0 0) substrates have been systematically investigated in this paper. Both the stoichiometric composition of NiSi determined by Rutherford backscattering and the molecular structure of it examined by micro-Raman spectroscopy are independent of the initial Ni thickness under 500 °C annealing. The sheet resistance as well as surface roughness of thinner films start to increase at a lower temperature, indicating that thinner films are thermally less stable. Agglomeration of NiSi film agrees with the grain boundary grooving model and occurs more easily within thinner films. The NiSi 2 phase nucleates irregularly but epitaxially in certain areas at around 750 °C, resulting in the remarkable increase of both the sheet resistance and the surface roughness. The transformation from NiSi to NiSi 2 of thinner films begins at a lower temperature than that of thicker ones.
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