Effect of deposition temperature on the formation of CoSi2 through the rapid thermal annealing of CVD cobalt

Epitaxial CoSi2 layers were successfully produced on (100) silicon substrates by rapid thermal annealing of cobalt layer deposited by CVD. The epitaxial layer had a resistivity of 66 µ?cm for a ~100 nm layer. The relatively high resistivity is attributed to discontinuities and contamination in the layer.Cobalt silicide formation was found to be dependent on the deposition temperature of the CVD process and the thickness of the cobalt layer. The deposition of a PVD Ti/TiN capping layer was found to allow silicide formation at lower temperatures as the titanium reduces the interface oxide.