Nickel silicide formation by electroless technique for ULSI technology

In this paper we report on the formation of nickel silicide by electroless process. The nickel plating solution was composed of a mixture of NiSO4·6H2O, NaH2PO2·H2O, Na3C6H5O7, and NH4Cl, where NiSO4·6H2O is the main nickel source and NaH2PO2·H2O is the reducing agent. The nickel silicide formation was carried out by heating the deposited samples in vacuum at temperatures from 100 °C to 800 °C. The evolution of NiSi phase from the nickel film was verified using the X-ray diffraction technique and Raman spectroscopy. The surface morphology was studied using AFM technique. The electroless plating technique can provide a cheap and easy process for forming nickel silicide, and has potentiality of application for the electronic device industries.