Formation of High-oriented Epitaxial Ni(Si_(0.8)Ge_(0.2)) on Strained Si_(0.8)Ge_(0.2)/Si(100) via Adding a Thin Ti Interlayer

摘要

Ultrathin titanium (Ti) interlayer is introduced to the formation of nickel germanosilicide on strained Si_(0.8)Ge_(0.2)/Si(001). After rapid thermal annealing, a uniform flattened NiSi_(0.8)Ge_(0.2) layer is finally formed. The incorporation of Ti increases the transition temperature from the Ni-rich germanosilicide phase to the mono-germanosilicide phase, and improves the surface and interface roughnesses of Ni(Si_(0.8)Ge_(0.2)). The achievement of the highly-oriented (010) Ni(Si_(0.8)Ge_(0.2)) on (001) Si_(0.8)Ge_(0.2) is contributed to the balanced silicidation velocity for the existence of Ti interlayer.