An ordered Si nanowire with NiSi2 tip arrays as excellent field emitters

A method was developed to grow ordered silicon nanowire with NiSi(2) tip arrays by reacting nickel thin films on silica-coated ordered Si nanowire (NW) arrays. The coating of thin silica shell on Si NW arrays has the effect of limiting the diffusion of nickel during the silicidation process to achieve the single crystalline NiSi(2) NWs. In the meantime, it relieves the distortion of the NWs caused by the strain associated with formation of NiSi(2) to maintain the straightness of the nanowire and the ordering of the arrays. Other nickel silicide phases such as Ni(2)Si and NiSi were obtained if the silicidation processes were conducted on the ordered Si NWs without a thin silica shell. Excellent field emission properties were found for NiSi(2)/Si NW arrays with a turn on field of 0.82 V μm(-1) and a threshold field of 1.39 V μm(-1). The field enhancement factor was calculated to be about 2440. The stability test showed a fluctuation of about 7% with an applied field of 2.6 V μm(-1) for a period of 24 h. The excellent field emission characteristics are attributed to the well-aligned and highly ordered arrangement of the single crystalline NiSi(2)/Si heterostructure field emitters. In contrast to other growth methods, the present growth of ordered nickel silicide/Si NWs on silicon is compatible with silicon nanoelectronics device processes, and also provides a facile route to grow other well-aligned metal silicide NW arrays. The advantages will facilitate its applications as field emission devices.     

The behavior of Ti silicidation on Si/SiGe/Si base and its effect on base resistance and fmax in SiGe hetero-junction bipolar transistors

The relation between Ti silicidation and base resistance in SiGe hetero-junction bipolar transistors (HBT) was investigated. The Ti layer deposited on the Si/SiGe/Si base converted to Ti silicide during two-step annealing. The thickness of the Ti silicide, which was identified as the Ti(Si_1-xGe_x) phase of uniform composition, abruptly increased over the annealing temperature of 650/850 °C, and as a result it accomplished a very low extrinsic base resistance. The Ti silicidation affected the base resistance of real devices (R_B), which was extracted from simulating the electrical data of SiGe HBTs such as I –V curves, forward Gummel plots, forward current gain curves, and s-parameter plots. It was shown that the R_B was compatible with the theoretical relation which included the small-signal unity-gain frequency (f_T), the maximum oscillation frequency (f_max) and R_B. f_max varied more sensitively with R_B than f_T, which was due to the inherent property of f_max being inversely proportional to R_B. The f_max of the SiGe HBT reached 47.4 GHz when Ti silicidation was performed at the annealing temperature of 650/850 °C. This silicidation condition is thought to be an appropriate temperature for Ti silicidation applicable to SiGe HBT fabrication. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers     

Metal silicide-templated growth of quality Si films for Schottky-diodes

Quality Si films were grown on a metal silicide template and fabricated for a Schottky-diode. The thin metal was firstly deposited and reacted to the supplying Si and then formed the silicide layer, which is a template to grow quality Si film above it due to the lattice affinity to Si. Various types of metal (Co, Ni, and mixture of Co and Ni) were used as catalyst species. The morphological changes of Si grain sizes were systematically investigated. Two steps of Si supply condition were applied and revealed the formation of metal silicide phases and Si film growth.During the Si supply, Co was stable to form CoSi₂ and grew a crystalline Si (c-Si) film above it. However Ni firstly formed Ni rich silicide phases at low Si supply due to the fast Ni diffusion in Si. By increasing the Si supply, Ni diffusion has been staggered and formed NiSi₂ layer to grow a c-Si film above it. It has been also revealed that the NiSi₂ migration produced a c-Si film behind. Mixing of Co with Ni showed a stable silicide phase without a serious metal migration and improved the Si crystallinity providing an enhanced Schottky-diode performance.The investigation of silicide formation and quality Si film growth is presented. Transmission electron microscope analysis proves the volume growth of c-Si film above a metal disilicide of NiSi₂ or CoSi₂.     

Ultrashort channel silicon nanowire transistors with nickel silicide source/drain contacts

We demonstrate the shortest transistor channel length (17 nm) fabricated on a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) grown silicon nanowire (NW) by a controlled reaction with Ni leads on an in situ transmission electron microscope (TEM) heating stage at a moderate temperature of 400 °C. NiSi(2) is the leading phase, and the silicide-silicon interface is an atomically sharp type-A interface. At such channel lengths, high maximum on-currents of 890 (μA/μm) and a maximum transconductance of 430 (μS/μm) were obtained, which pushes forward the performance of bottom-up Si NW Schottky barrier field-effect transistors (SB-FETs). Through accurate control over the silicidation reaction, we provide a systematic study of channel length dependent carrier transport in a large number of SB-FETs with channel lengths in the range of 17 nm to 3.6 μm. Our device results corroborate with our transport simulations and reveal a characteristic type of short channel effects in SB-FETs, both in on- and off-state, which is different from that in conventional MOSFETs, and that limits transport parameter extraction from SB-FETs using conventional field-effect transconductance measurements.     

Effect of Co,Pd and Pt ultra-thin films on the Ni-silicide formation: investigating the sandwich configuration

The effect of Co, Pd and Pt ultrathin films on the kinetics of the formation of Ni-silicide by reactive diffusion is investigated. 50 nm Ni/1 nm X/ 50 nm Ni (X?=?Co, Pd, Pt) deposited on Si(100) substrates are studied using in-situ and ex-situ measurements by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The presence of Co, Pd or Pt thin films in between the Ni layers delays the formation of the metal rich phase compared to the pure Ni/Si system and thus these films act as diffusion barriers. A simultaneous silicide formation (δ-Ni₂Si and NiSi phases) different from the classic sequential formation is found during the consumption of the top Ni layer for which Ni has to diffuse through the barrier. A model for the simultaneous growth in the presence of a barrier is developed, and simulation of the kinetics measured by XRD is used to determine the permeability of the different barriers. Atom probe tomography (APT) of the Ni/Pd/Ni system shows that the Pd layer is located between the Ni top layer and δ-Ni₂Si during the silicide growth, in accordance with a silicide formation controlled by Ni diffusion through the Pd layer. The effect of the barrier on the silicide formation and properties is discussed.

     

High performance infra-red detectors based on Si/SiGe multilayers quantum structure

Recently, single crystalline (Sc) Si/SiGe multi quantum structure has been recognized as a new low-cost thermistor material for IR detection. Higher signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) than existing thermistor materials have converted it to a candidate for infrared (IR) detection in night vision applications. In this study, the effects of Ge content, C doping and the Ni silicidation of the contacts on the performance of SiGe/Si thermistor material have been investigated. Finally, an uncooled thermistor material with TCR of −4.5%/K for 100 μm × 100 μm pixel sizes and low noise constant (K_1/f) value of 4.4 × 10⁻¹⁵ is presented. The outstanding performance of the devices is due to Ni silicide contacts, smooth interfaces, and high quality multi quantum wells (MQWs) containing high Ge content.     

Growth of nickel silicides in Si and Si/SiOx core/shell nanowires

We exploited the oxide shell structure to explore the structure confinement effect on the nickel silicide growth in one-dimensional nanowire template. The oxide confinement structure is similar to the contact structure (via hole) in the thin film system or nanodevices passivated by oxide or nitride film. Silicon nanowires in direct contact with nickel pads transform into two phases of nickel silicides, Ni31Si12 and NiSi2, after one-step annealing at 550 °C. In a bare Si nanowire during the annealing process, NiSi2 grows initially through the nanowire, followed by the transformation of NiSi2 into the nickel-rich phase, Ni31Si12 starting from near the nickel pad. Ni31Si12 is also observed under the nickel pads. Although the same phase transformations of Si to nickel silicides are observed in nanowires with oxide confinement structure, the growth rate of nickel silicides, Ni31Si12 and NiSi2, is retarded dramatically. With increasing oxide thickness from 5 to 50 nm, the retarding effect of the Ni31Si12 growth and the annihilation of Ni2Si into the oxide confined-Si is clearly observed. Ni31Si12 and Ni2Si phases are limited to grow into the Si/SiOx core-shell nanowire as the shell thickness reaches 50 nm. It is experimental evidence that phase transformation is influenced by the stressed structure at nanoscale.     

Silicide-induced multi-wall carbon nanotube growth on silicon nanowires

A novel multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) growth process is reported based on carbon incorporation in a nickel catalyst layer deposited via plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) on silicon nanowires and silicon wafer substrates. As-deposited PEALD Ni films containing relatively high amounts of carbon (>18?at.%) were observed to promote the growth of MWNTs upon post-deposition rapid thermal annealing. For these films the carbon originated from the ALD precursor ligand and MWNT growth occurred in the absence of a vapor-phase carbon feedstock. MWNT growth relied on the formation of nickel silicide at the PEALD Ni/Si interface which increased the local carbon concentration in the Ni film sufficiently to promote carbon saturation/precipitation at Ni catalyst grains and nucleate MWNT growth. Similar MWNT growth from annealed PEALD Ni films was not observed on SiO(2)-coated Si wafer substrates, consistent with the role of silicidation in the observed Ni-catalyzed MWNT growth on Si. This MWNT growth mode requires neither the catalytic decomposition of a gaseous hydrocarbon source nor the high-temperature pyrolysis of metallocene materials and purposely avoids a catalyst diffusion barrier at the Si substrate, commonly used in MWNT growth processes on Si.     

Highly efficient charge separation and collection across in situ doped axial VLS-grown Si nanowire p-n junctions

VLS-grown semiconductor nanowires have emerged as a viable prospect for future solar-based energy applications. In this paper, we report highly efficient charge separation and collection across in situ doped Si p-n junction nanowires with a diameter <100 nm grown in a cold wall CVD reactor. Our photoexcitation measurements indicate an internal quantum efficiency of ~50%, whereas scanning photocurrent microscopy measurements reveal effective minority carrier diffusion lengths of ~1.0 μm for electrons and 0.66 μm for holes for as-grown Si nanowires (d(NW) ≈ 65-80 nm), which are an order of magnitude larger than those previously reported for nanowires of similar diameter. Further analysis reveals that the strong suppression of surface recombination is mainly responsible for these relatively long diffusion lengths, with surface recombination velocities (S) calculated to be 2 orders of magnitude lower than found previously for as-grown nanowires, all of which used hot wall reactors. The degree of surface passivation achieved in our as-grown nanowires is comparable to or better than that achieved for nanowires in prior studies at significantly larger diameters. We suggest that the dramatically improved surface recombination velocities may result from the reduced sidewall reactions and deposition in our cold wall CVD reactor.     

Ultralow thermal conductivity of isotope-doped silicon nanowires

The thermal conductivity of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) is investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. It is found that the thermal conductivity of SiNWs can be reduced exponentially by isotopic defects at room temperature. The thermal conductivity reaches the minimum, which is about 27% of that of pure 28Si NW, when doped with 50% isotope atoms. The thermal conductivity of isotopic-superlattice structured SiNWs depends clearly on the period of superlattice. At a critical period of 1.09 nm, the thermal conductivity is only 25% of the value of pure Si NW. An anomalous enhancement of thermal conductivity is observed when the superlattice period is smaller than this critical length. The ultralow thermal conductivity of superlattice structured SiNWs is explained with phonon spectrum theory.     

Ti/Si(100)体系界面扩散反应动力学研究

采用移动边界条件下扩散问题的处理方法，综合界面反应和扩散两个过程对界面硅化物形成的影响，建立起Ti／Si（100）界面扩散反应动力学理论模型，并拟合快速热退火处理后试样界面Auger深度分析谱，得到Ti，Si在相应界质中扩散系数和表现反应活化能。研究结果表明，Ti／Si体系界面TiSi2生成经历了一个由反应动力学控制到扩散控制的过渡。Si从其晶格中解离并扩散到Ti／TiSi2界面是制约扩散过程的关键因素。     

Comparison between furnace and rapid thermal annealed iridium silicide Schottky barrier diodes

Abstract

Iridium silicide Schottky barrier diodes fabricated by low temperature rapid thermal annealing (R TA) either in vacuum or in an argon atmosphere are investigated. A comparison with furnace annealed diodes is made in terms of their electrical characteristics. An ideality index close to unity has been obtained. Measured values of Schottky barrier height were close to that reported for Ir₁Si₁/n type silicon <111> diodes. An increase in series resistance with annealing time is detected for diodes fabricated in the gas atmosphere by either furnace annealing or RTA: this effect seems to be related to oxygen diffusion through the iridium layer. The effect of atmosphere control on the grown material is also significant: silicidation and a phase change from Ir₁ Si₁ to Ir₁ Si_1-75 occur at lower temperatures when the reaction atmospheres contain a lower oxygen concentration. Complete silicidation to Ir₁Si₁ is obtainedfor all the 400°C RTA samples, but temperatures above 450°C are required for open tube furnace argon annealed samples to obtain the same reaction. A low barrier silicide phase appears only for RTA in vacuum at 450°C. It seems that RTA in vacuum at low temperature (400°C) is the most promising methodfor diode fabrication.

MST/3334     

Silicide formation in contacts to Si nanowires

Silicides, intermetallic compounds formed by the reaction of a metal and Si, have long been used as contacts for metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors and have more become interesting for other Si nanowire (SiNW) devices. In the following, experimental results for the Ti, V, Pt, Pd, Fe, and Ni–Si systems are reported and placed in the context of prior work on silicide formation from metal films on Si wafers. For the early transition metals Ti and V, the silicide is formed only underneath the contact pad and is Si-rich (MSi₂). For the middle transition metal Fe and late transition metals Pt and Pd, a metal-rich silicide was the first phase observed to form, but poor morphologies were common, making it a challenge to incorporate these contacts into nanowire devices. Nickel contacts were the only ones with well-behaved axial silicide growth away from the contact pad, and silicide formation was strongly dependent on the original SiNW orientation. These findings are discussed in terms of kinetic features of the metal-SiNW systems.     

Silicide formation during heat treatment of thin Ni-Pt and Ni-Pd solid-solution films and Pt/Ni bilayers on (111)Si

It is shown that isothermal heat treatment of (Ni-Pt)/Si and Pt/Ni/Si heterostructures leads to the formation of oriented Ni-and Pt-based silicide solid solutions. Owing to the three equivalent azimuth orientations in the basic lattice orientation relationship for the Si-Ni_1?x Pt_xSi system, the resulting silicides have a nanocrystalline substructure. The stability of the substructure is due to the optimal interfacial lattice match and near-special grain-boundary misorientations. The silicide phases Ni_1?x Pt_xSi and Pt_1?y Ni_ySi (or Ni_1?x Pd_xSi and Pd_1?y Ni_ySi) may undergo segregation, having the same lattice orientation. In both systems, the segregation is associated with the predominant Ni diffusion. The second component (Pt) is shown to stabilize the orthorhombic Ni-based silicide and to prevent NiSi₂ formation. Photon processing accelerates diffusion and leads to the formation of phase-pure Ni_1?x Pt_xSi solid solutions.     

Two‐Dimensional Self‐Organization of an Ordered Au Silicide Nanowire Network on a Si(110)‐16 × 2 Surface

A well‐ordered two‐dimensional (2D) network consisting of two crossed Au silicide nanowire (NW) arrays is self‐organized on a Si(110)‐16 × 2 surface by the direct‐current heating of ≈1.5 monolayers of Au on the surface at 1100 K. Such a highly regular crossbar nanomesh exhibits both a perfect long‐range spatial order and a high integration density over a mesoscopic area, and these two self‐ordering crossed arrays of parallel‐aligned NWs have distinctly different sizes and conductivities. NWs are fabricated with widths and pitches as small as ≈2 and ≈5 nm, respectively. The difference in the conductivities of two crossed‐NW arrays opens up the possibility for their utilization in nanodevices of crossbar architecture. Scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy studies show that the 2D self‐organization of this perfect Au silicide nanomesh can be achieved through two different directional electromigrations of Au silicide NWs along different orientations of two nonorthogonal 16 × 2 domains, which are driven by the electrical field of direct‐current heating. Prospects for this Au silicide nanomesh are also discussed.     

Combined reaction and diffusion controlled kinetics of silicidation

A model of combined reaction and diffusion controlled silicidation in thin film structures is presented. The analytical equation for silicide layer thickness as a function of the thermal processing regime has been obtained. Illustrative calculations for thin film chromium silicides formed by rapid thermal processing were performed within the proposed model and the traditional diffusion limited kinetics. Comparison of the results with the experimental data shows the proposed reaction-diffusion model to be much accurate, particularly at the early stage of the growth.     

A nickel silicide nanowire microscopy tip obtains nanoscale information

An electric conductive Ni silicide nanowire (NiSi NW) embedding electric force microscopy (EFM) tip was fabricated by the dielectrophoretic method and was used to obtain electric information. Due to the geometric and electric excellence, the NiSi NW provides advantages in imaging and fabrication of the microscopy tip. A lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ferroelectric thin film was positively and negatively polarized, and the polarities were obtained by probing of the NiSi NW EFM tip to give distinctive charging information of the PZT film. Moreover, the NiSi NW EFM probing was adopted to achieve the electrical signal from the NW interconnect. The NiSi NW EFM probe confirmed the uniform electric-potential distribution through the NiSi NW interconnect with a small standard deviation. This demonstrates the feasibility of functional utilizations of the NiSi NW.     

Possible applications of tantalum silicide for very-large-scale integration technology

The possibility of depositing TaSi₂ by sputtering and chemical vapour deposition (selective and non-selective deposition) opens a wide variety of applications for this material in very-large-scale integration technology. The following examples are briefly discussed: (1) polycide gate metallization; (2) silicide gate metallization; (3) diffusion barrier properties; (4) source-drain silicidation; (5) planarization by contact hole filling.     

Dopant enhanced in nickel silicide formation for high-<Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis> dielectric applications

The thermal stability of fully silicided NiSi with arsenic doping on silicon was investigated. The combination of full nickel silicidation gate electrodes and hafnium based high-k gate dielectrics is one of the most promising gate stacks to replace poly-Si/SiO₂/Si gate stacks in the future complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) sub-45 nm technology node. The aims of the work were to investigate the Ni silicide phase-related issues associated with arsenic dopant and thermal annealing on Ni–FUSI/HfO₂/Si and Ni–FUSI/HfSiO/Si gate stacks. It was found that arsenic-incorporation demonstrated some improvement in both morphology and phase stability of nickel silicided films at high processing temperatures regardless underlying gate dielectrics. The correlations of Ni–Si phase transformation and arsenic doapnt with their electrical and physical changes were established by sheet resistance measurements, X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. Furthermore, the modulation of the work function (WF) of Ni fully silicided gates by arsenic impurity is presented, comparing the effects of dopant (As) on the WF and silicide phases (NiSi and NiSi₂). It confirmed that the work function of NiSi can be tuned by implanting arsenic dopant, but it ineffective for NiSi₂ phase.     

渐进因子分析法及其在Au/Ni/Si薄膜俄歇深度剖面研究中的应用

将渐进因子分析法应用于俄歇深度剖面的化学态研究。通过对Au／Ni／Si薄膜样品深度剖析过程的渐进因子分析，最终获得了各元素的化学状态和深度分布，并发现Au／Ni／Si样品中Ni／Si界面在室温下已发生反应，生成富Si的NixSi化合物层。样品经真空退火处理后，Ni／Si界面进一步反应生成Ni2Si合金，而原有的NixSi化合物含量相对减少，并向Si基体侧扩展，同时Ni穿透Au膜在样品表面富集。渐进因子分析的结果与XPS分析相一致。