Pre-Silicide clean is a critical step in NiSi integration to keep silicide/Si interface clean and defect-free for good device performance. Traditional pre-silicide clean uses HF wet clean which requires tight queue time control to prevent native oxide growth before Ni deposition. We present in this paper an in situ dry chemical clean technology and its impact on NiSi and Ni(Pt)Si Integration, compared with traditional HF wet clean. The new in situ dry pre-silicide clean selectively etches away oxide, and prepare the surface for subsequent Ni PVD deposition without leaving its vacuum environment. The electrical results show lower silicide resistance, tighter resistance distribution, and better diode characteristics with in situ dry clean than with HF clean.
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