Electrical demonstration of thermally stable Ni silicides on Si1−xCx epitaxial layers

In this paper we report on electrical demonstration of thermally stable Ni silicides. It has been shown that when a sacrificial Si1−xCx epilayer is grown in the source-drain areas of NMOS transistors prior to silicidation, Ni silicides can withstand a 30 min anneal at 750 °C and demonstrate excellent electrical performance. We have observed carbon segregation at the NiSiC/Si1−xCx interface which can explain the increased NiSiC thermal stability. We have experimentally demonstrated feasibility of CMOS device implementation of thermally stable Ni silicides.