The effect of the second annealing step on the Ni1-xPtx

In this paper, the influence of the formation history of a thin Ni1-xPtx:Si film on its thermal stability is investigated. Film degradation manifests itself as a transformation of the continuous film into physically separated islands, resulting in a sheet resistance increase. Higher silicide peak formation temperatures were observed to result in a reduced thermal stability. As a result an improved silicide thermal stability is demonstrated for conductive heating as compared to laser/flash msec anneal. This improved thermal stability is discussed in terms of stress, grain size and Pt distribution. The observed thermal stability differences can be explained in terms of the residual stress in the film. Display Omitted The second anneal step in a 2 step silicidation process has a clear influence on the layer stability.Pt distribution, grain size and film stress of a NiSi:Pt film depends on the thermal formation history.Thermal stability of NiSi film is determined by stress build up during formation.