GROWTH, STRUCTURE AND ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EPITAXIAL NICKEL SILICIDE FROM CHEMICALLY ELECTROLESS NI-DEPOSITION ON SI

The epitaxial NiSi2 has been successfully grown on (100) and (111) silicon single crystals by chemical electroless deposition and isothermal annealing for the first time. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was applied to study the structure and orientation relationship of the films and substrates. The nickel silicide formed on both (100) and (111) Si substrates was identified to be NiSi2 and was found to have epitaxial relationship with the substrates by bright field imaging and selected area diffraction pattern analysiS. Square, hexagonal and irregular dislocation networks were observed. The orientation relationships of silicide phase with respect to (100)Si substrate were identified to be (220)Si ∥ (220)NiSi2, (400)Si ∥ (400)NiSi2 and (001) Si ∥ (001)NiSi2. The orientation relationships of silicide phase with respect to (111)Si substrate were identified to be (220)Si ∥ (02-2)NiSi2, (3-11) Si ∥ (31-1) NiSi2 and [1-1-4]Si ∥ [1-1-2]NiSi2. The average spacing of interfacial dislocations was about 90 nm for epitaxial silicide formed on (100)Si at 800° C, which is narrower than that on (111)Si. These spacings decreased with increasing annealing temperature. Sheet resistances were measured to be lower than that of poly-NiSi2 produced from electron gun evaporation with the same annealing condition. A linear relationship between resistivity and thickness was found and discussed. © 1990 Chapman and Hall Ltd.