Nickel Film Deposition with Varying RF Power for the Reduction of Contact Resistance in NiSi

Abstract

In this study, the effect of radio frequency (RF) power on nickel (Ni) film deposition was studied to investigate the applications of lowering the contact resistance in the NiSi/Si junction. The RF powers of 100, 150, and 200 W were used for the deposition of the Ni film on an n/p silicon substrate. RMS roughnesses of 1.354, 1.174 and 1.338 nm were obtained at 100, 150, and 200 W, respectively. A circular transmission line model (CTLM) pattern was used to obtain the contact resistance for three different RF-power-deposited films. The lowest contact resistivity of 5.84 × 10−5 Ω-cm2 was obtained for the NiSi/n-Si substrate for Ni film deposited at 150 W RF power.