Mechanism of Contact Resistance Reduction in Nickel Silicide Films by Pt Incorporation

Leakage Reduction by Thermal Annealing of NiPtSi Silicided Junctions and Anomalous Grain-Incompatible Pt Network

“…In large, they do not form a ''wall structure'' penetrating from the silicide surface down to the bottom interface as presumed in ref. 10. In reality, unlike other Pt distributions speculated so far, they form anomalous thin threads making up an in-layer web structure that even extends within single grains.…”

“…An oversimplified generalization from a small number of extremely localized observations could have been the source of some misjudgments in ref. 10. Regarding the presence of Pt at the interface, as suggested in ref.…”

“…Otherwise, it is possible that the extremely localized atomprobe observations in ref. 10 were performed at locations where Pt was distributed near the silicide surface (which are, in part, also visible in Fig. 18).…”

“…10 might be due to the difference in the silicide formation process (i.e., in ref. 10, thinner silicides are formed on heavily doped and highly damaged substrates). Otherwise, it is possible that the extremely localized atomprobe observations in ref.…”

“…In fact, its resilience against thermal stress in terms of its unchanged sheet resistance and increased NiSi 2 formation temperature is abundantly documented. [8][9][10] Nevertheless, regarding the reduction of thermally induced leakage, a sensitive, intensive, and conclusive investigation of the effectiveness of Pt addition and its inherent limitation has never been conducted. Although several mechanisms of Pt-induced thermal stabilization have been suggested, 9,11,12) its true physical origin is yet to be fully understood.…”