Bing-Zong Li

Atomic layer deposition of TiO2 from tetrakis-dimethyl-amido titanium or Ti isopropoxide precursors and H2O

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of TiO2 thin films using Ti isopropoxide and tetrakis-dimethyl-amido titanium (TDMAT) as two kinds of Ti precursors and water as another reactant was investigated. TiO2 films with high purity can be grown in a self-limited ALD growth mode by using either Ti isopropoxide or TDMAT as Ti precursors. Different growth behaviors as a function of deposition temperature were observed. A typical growth rate curve-increased growth rate per cycle (GPC) with increasing temperatures was observed for the TiO2 film deposited by Ti isopropoxide and H2O, while surprisingly high GPC was observed at low temperatures for the TiO2 film deposited by TDMAT and H2O. An energetic model was proposed to explain the different growth behaviors with different precursors. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation was made. The GPC in the low temperature region is determined by the reaction energy barrier. From the experimental results and DFT calculation, we found that the intermediate product stability ...

Improved barrier properties of ultrathin Ru film with TaN interlayer for copper metallization

The properties of ultrathin ruthenium (∼5nm)∕TaN(∼5nm) bilayer as the copper diffusion barrier are studied. Cu, Ru, and TaN thin films are deposited by using the ion beam sputtering technique. The experimental results show that the thermal stability of the Cu∕Ru∕TaN∕Si structure is much more improved than that of the Cu∕Ru∕Si structure, which should be attributed to the insertion of the amorphous TaN interlayer. The microstructure evolution of the Cu∕Ru∕TaN∕Si structure during annealing is also discussed. The results show that the Ru∕TaN bilayer can be a very promising diffusion barrier in the future seedless Cu interconnect technology.

Growth Kinetics and Crystallization Behavior of TiO2 Films Prepared by Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition

cSCK-CEN, Boeretang 200, B-2400 Mol, Belgium Atomic layer deposition ALD of TiO2 films from tetrakisdimethylamido titanium TDMAT or titanium tetraisopropoxide TTIP precursors was investigated. The growth kinetics, chemical composition, and crystallization behavior of the TiO2 films were compared for combinations of the two precursors with three different sources of oxygen thermal ALD using H2O and plasma-enhanced ALD PEALD using H2 Oo r O 2 plasma. For TDMAT, the growth rate per cycle GPC decreased with increasing temperature; while for TTIP with either water plasma or O2 plasma, a relatively constant growth rate per cycle was observed as a function of substrate temperature. It was found that the crystallization temperature of the TiO2 films depends both on film thickness and on the deposition conditions. A correlation was observed between the TiO2 crystallization temperature and the C impurity concentration in the film. The TiO2 films grown using a H2O plasma exhibit the lowest crystallization temperature and have no detectable C impurities. In situ X-ray diffraction measurements were used to test the diffusion barrier properties of the TiO2 layers and proved that all TiO2 films grown using either H2 Oo r O2 plasma are dense and continuous.

Epitaxial growth of CoSi2 on both (111) and (100) Si substrates by multistep annealing of a ternary Co/Ti/Si system

Formation of CoSi2 films by the reaction of ternary Co/Ti/Si system has been investigated. Ti and Co films were sequentially deposited on Si substrates by ion beam sputtering. It succeeded in the growth of epitaxial single‐crystalline CoSi2 films on both Si(111) and Si(100) substrates through a multistep annealing process with temperatures from 550 to 900 °C in a nitrogen environment. A thin layer of TiN was formed on top of the epitaxial CoSi2. The values of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry/channeling minimum yield χmin for the epitaxial CoSi2 films were in the range of 10%–14%. The epitaxial CoSi2 grown on Si(111) was found to be composed of type B.

Solid state reaction of Co,Ti with epitaxially‐grown Si1−xGex film on Si(100) substrate

The solid state reaction of Co,Ti with an epitaxially grown Si1−xGex strained layer is investigated in this article. The reaction was performed in a rapid thermal annealing system. The resulting films were characterized by Rutherford backscattering, Auger electron spectroscopy, x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, x‐ray diffractometry, and scanning electron microscopy. The electrical resistivity and Hall effect were measured in the temperature range of 77–300 K. Rapid thermal annealing of Co/Si0.8Ge0.2 at 650 °C results in a Co(Si0.9Ge0.1) film with cubic crystalline structure. At higher temperature CoSi2 is formed with Ge segregation towards the surface. After a multi‐step annealing, a highly oriented CoSi2 layer can be grown. For TiN/Ti/SiGe, the ternary phase of Ti(Si1−yGey)2 is formed, with a smooth surface and with resistivity comparable to the lowest value exhibited by TiSi2. The Co/Ti/SiGe/Si reaction is studied for the first time, demonstrating that the uniformity of Co/SiGe reaction is improved by a...

Ni/Si solid phase reaction studied by temperature-dependent current-voltage technique

The temperature-dependent current–voltage (I–V–T) technique has been used to study the Ni/Si solid phase reaction by measuring the Schottky barrier height (SBH) inhomogeneity of Ni-silicide/Si Schottky diodes. The experimental results show the strong dependence of SBH inhomogeneity on the Ni/Si solid phase reaction. The SBH distribution of the diodes annealed at 500 and 600 °C can be described by a single-Gaussian function and the diode annealed at 500 °C is found to have the best homogeneity and the smallest leakage current. The SBH distribution of the diodes annealed at 400, 700, and 800 °C can be described by a double-Gaussian function in which the mean value of the second Gaussian function is substantially smaller than that of the dominant Gaussian function. The variation of SBH inhomogeneity, an interface property, is related to the phase evolution process in the Ni/Si solid phase reaction, and verified by reverse I–V measurements. Our results indicate that the I–V–T technique may be developed as a w...

Nickel silicidation on n and p-type junctions at 300°C

The electrical and materials properties of ∼20nm nickel silicide films, formed at 300°C, on n+∕p and p+∕n junctions are investigated. The sheet resistance of the silicide on p+∕n junctions is found to be more than twice as high as that of the silicide on n+∕p junctions. Cross section transmission electron microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, and x-ray photoelectron energy spectroscopy reveal that a pure Ni2Si layer forms on n+∕p junctions while a thicker Ni2Si∕NiSi double layer (∼60% Ni2Si) forms on p+∕n junctions. But the electrical differences are found to correlate only with differences in grain size and dopant concentration in the silicide.

Electrically active defects in Ni?Si silicide studied by deep-level transient spectroscopy

Deep-level defects are introduced into silicon when nickel silicide is formed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). Experimental results show that the deep-level defects are mainly related to Ni diffusion from the surface. Diffusion coefficients of the defects in Si at the temperature of 400 °C are calculated. The concentration of the deep-level defects varies with RTA temperature and the deep-level defects disappear at the annealing temperature above 500 °C. The current–voltage (I–V) measurements show that the reverse leakage current is increased by the deep-level defects.

A BEEM study of Schottky barrier height distributions of ultrathin CoSi2/n-Si(100) formed by solid phase epitaxy

The spatial distributions of the Schottky barrier heights of ultrathin CoSi2 films (~10 nm) on n-Si(100), obtained by multilayer solid state reaction of Co/Ti/n-Si, Co/a-Si/Ti/n-Si, Ti/Co/a-Si/Ti/n-Si and Co/n-Si systems, are studied by ballistic electron emission microscopy (BEEM) and spectroscopy (BEES) at low temperature (~-80 °C). The barrier heights determined from BEEM spectra range between 520 meV and 700 meV, with an approximate Gaussian distribution. The mean barrier heights of the epitaxial CoSi2 /Si contacts are 0.60-0.61 eV, lower than the 0.64 eV for polycrystalline CoSi2 /Si contacts. Adding a thin amorphous Si interlayer (1 nm) slightly increases the probability of higher barrier heights, while a thin Ti capping layer (1 nm) has no significant influence on the mean barrier height. The BEEM results are compared to those from I -V /C -V measurements.

Epitaxial growth of CoSi2 film by Co/a-Si/Ti/Si(100) multilayer solid state reaction

Epitaxial growth of CoSi2 by solid state reaction of Co/a-Si/Ti/Si(100) is investigated. A Ti/a-Si composite interlayer is used to modify the diffusion barrier and influence the epitaxial growth process. The epitaxial quality of the CoSi2 is improved compared to the film grown by Co/Ti/Si reaction. A multielement amorphous layer is formed by a solid-state amorphization reaction at the initial stage of the multilayer reaction. This layer acts as a diffusion barrier, which controls the atomic interdiffusion of Co and Si while limiting the supply of Co atoms. CoSi2 grows as the first phase and the growth interface of the epitaxial CoSi2 is at both the CoSi2/Si and CoSi2/CoSi interfaces. Investigation of the growth kinetics shows that the activation energy of CoSi2 formation is larger than that without an amorphous Si layer.