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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2011
A reactive Ti capping layer is needed to getter oxygen contamination and to make the cobalt silicidation reaction a more robust process. However, the presence of a Ti capping layer induces two other effects (in addition to the beneficial gettering of oxygen impurities): the formation temperature of CoSi2 is increased and the CoSi2 layer has a strong (220) preferential orientation. Because of the current technological importance of the Ti/Co/Si system, we have made a detailed investigation of the influence of several process parameters (annealing temperature, selective etching, layer thickness) on the nucleation of CoSi2 in the Ti/Co/Si system. Moreover, it is shown that the addition of Ni (i.e. a Ti/Co/Ni/Si or Ti/Ni/Co/Si structure) causes a decrease of the CoSi2 nucleation temperature.