Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
The effects of heat treatment of polysilicon and amorphous Si films on their microstructure and thermal stability of polycides formed on these films have been studied. The number of grain boundaries decreases after pre-silicidation heat treatment in polysilicon due to grain growth but increases in amorphous Si due to nucleation. Since the thermal stability of CoSi2 polycide films was found to be closely related to the number of grain boundaries in the underlying silicon substrate, pre-silicidation heat treatments degrade the thermal stability of CoSi2 on as-deposited amorphous Si and improve the thermal stability of CoSi2 on asdeposited polysilicon. Doping does not have as pronounced an effects as substrate microstructure on CoSi21 polycide thermal stability, especially when dopants are introduced after silicidation by ion implantation.