Contact is typically made to source/drain regions of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) by use of TiSi2 or CoSi2 layers followed by AI(Cu) metal lines. A silicide layer is used to reduce contact resistance. TiSi2 or CoSi2 are chosen for the contact layer because these silicides have low resistivities (~12-15 μΩ-cm for TiSi2 in the C54 phase, and ~10-15 μΩ-cm for CoSi2). CoSi2 has other desirable properties, such as being thermally stable up to >1000°C for surface layers and >1100°C for buried layers, and having a small lattice mismatch with silicon, -1.2% at room temperature. During CoSi2 growth, Co is the diffusing species. Electrode shorts and voids which can arise if Si is the diffusing species are therefore avoided. However, problems can arise due to silicide-Si interface roughness (leading to nonuniformity in film resistance) and thermal instability of the resistance upon further high temperature annealing. These problems can be avoided if the CoSi2 can be grown epitaxially on silicon.
Thermal instability through the outer half of quasi-static spherically symmetric molecular clumps and cores
