Low temperature of formation of nickel germanide on crystalline germanium
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Date
2014
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
IEEE
Abstract
Germanides are conveniently formed by heating a metal layer on germanium and are suitable for forming low resistance ohmic contacts. Many metals form germanides this way and nickel germanide in the form of NiGe is advantageous for use in germanium semiconductor devices as it has a low resistivity comparable to that of NiSi which is a well known electrical contact material in silicon devices. Other forms of nickel germanide, other than NiGe, are not desirable as they have higher resistivities [1]. Thin films of NiGe conveniently form at the relatively low temperature of 300C in a matter of minutes and at lower temperatures over a longer time. Here we report on the heat treatment required to form NiGe on n and p-type germanium at low temperatures (300C and lower) and report on the temperature duration required for fully reacting Ni of different thicknesses to form NiGe. Ni was deposited on crystalline germanium and heat treatments undertaken on several samples for time durations at different temperatures of 5 minutes to 12 hour. © 2014 IEEE
Description
Keywords
Temperature range, Layers, Germanides, Metals, Thin Films, Heat treatments
Citation
Algahtani, F., Blackford, M., Alnassar, M. S. N., Reeves, G. K., Leech, P., Pirogova, E., & Holland, A. S. (2014). Low temperature of formation of nickel germanide on crystalline germanium. Paper presented to the 29th International Conference on Microelectronics : MIEL 2014 : Belgrade, Serbia, 12-14 May 2014. In 2014 29th International Conference on Microelectronics : proceedings : MIEL 2014 : Belgrade, Serbia, 12-14 May 2014, (pp. 253-256). doi:10.1109/MIEL.2014.6842135.