Formation of Low-Resistivity Nickel Germanide Using Atomic Layer Deposited Nickel Thin Film

摘要

Nickel germanide (NiGe) was formed from atomic layer deposition (ALD) Ni on Ge and a subequent annealing process; the Ni film with low resistivity ( 34~mu Omega cdot text {cm} ) at 15 nm was obtained by N2 + H2 plasma treatment after Ni precursor injection. The formed NiGe film showed low specific contact resistivity ( rho _{c}) values of 9.01 mu Omega cdot text {cm}^{2} for an NiGe+Ge contact and 3.61 mu Omega cdot text {cm}^{2} for an NiGe/p+Ge contact. These values were comparable to those obtained using sputtered Ni. In addition, the ALD process-based NiGe showed excellent thermal/electrical stability up to 600 °C.