Effect of Ni interlayer on stress level of CoSi2 films in Co/Ni/Si(1 0 0) bi-layered system

The effect of Ni interlayer on stress level of cobalt silicides was investigated. The X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) show that low temperature formation of Co1−xNixSi2 solid solution was obtained while Ni interlayer was present in Co/Si system, which was confirmed by Auger electron spectrum (AES) and sheet resistance measurement. XRD was also used to measure the internal stress in CoSi2 films by a 2θψ − sin2ψ method. The result shows that the tensile stress in CoSi2 films evidently decreased in Co/Ni/Si(1 0 0) system. The reduction of lattice mismatch, due to the presence of Ni in CoxNi1−xSi2 solid solution, is proposed to explain this phenomenon.