The effect of precleaning treatments on the formation of Ti silicide

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 125; no. 1; pp. 23 - 28
• Main Authors: Jung, Sang-Chul, Park, Ji-Soo, Yoon, Yeo-Boon, Roh, Jae-Sung, Kim, Jae-Jeong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.01.1998; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Ar dry cleaning; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Native oxide; Physics; RCA clean; Surface cleaning, etching, patterning; Surface treatments; Titanium silicide; Native oxide; RCA clean; Ar dry cleaning; Titanium silicide; Surface cleaning; Titanium sulfides; Sheet resistivity; Surface treatments; SIMS; Experimental study; TEM; Film growth
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/S0169-4332(97)00408-X

In this work, the effect of the wafer precleaning procedure for low resistance titanium silicide film growth was investigated. This involved Ar sputtering treatment, APM cleaning, HPM cleaning and dilute-HF dipping. The low resistance TiSi 2 film formation was realized by a wet precleaning to remove oxide from the Si surface. The higher sheet resistance of TiSi 2 film treated by Ar dry cleaning was explained by the thinner film thickness and the interface roughness. Knock-on contaminants trapped in an interfacial amorphous Si layer were formed in the remaining native oxide during Ar dry cleaning. Although a small amount of oxygen at the interface had little influence on the silicidation reaction, knocked-on oxygen and nitrogen inhibited the silicidation reaction.