Silicon: Carbon Source/Drain Stressors: Integration of a Novel Nickel Aluminide-Silicide and Post-Solid-Phase-Epitaxy Anneal for Reduced Schottky-Barrier and Leakage

We report two distinct approaches to reduce leakage and parasitic resistance in Silicon:Carbon (Si:C) region. First, the effectiveness of a low-thermal budget post-Solid-Phase-Epitaxy (post-SPE) anneal in the suppression of leakages is examined. Second, we have developed a novel nickel-aluminide silicide (NiAlSi:C) with dopant-segregation (DS) technology to reduce the Schottky-Barrier height (SBH) for Si:C contacts. An optimum 18% substitutional incorporation of Al in the silicide matrix leads to a 10% reduction in the intrinsic SBH of NiSi:C. A low electron schottky barrier Phi(n)(B) of 0.118 eV was attained with NiAlSi:C contacts on phosphorous-segregated regions. The results on Si:C establish a technique to achieve low leakage, low SBH for low contact resistance and low sheet resistance for Si:C S/D application.