Microstructure studies of tungsten silicide schottky contacts on Gaas

Tungsten silicides (WSix) have been successfully used as the gate materials in self-aligned GaAs metal-semiconductor-field- effect transistors (MESFET). Thermal stability of the WSix/GaAs Schottky contact is of major concern since the n+ implanted source/drain regions must be annealed at high temperatures (∼ 800°C). WSi0.6 was considered the best composition to achieve good device performance due to its low stress and excellent thermal stability of the WSix/GaAs interface. The film adhesion and the uniformity in barrier heights and ideality factors of the WSi0.6 films have been improved by depositing a thin layer of pure W as the first layer on GaAs prior to WSi0.6 deposition. Recently WSi0.1 has been used successfully as the gate material in 1x10 μm GaAs FET's on the GaAs substrates which were sputter-cleaned prior to deposition. These GaAs FET's exhibited uniform threshold voltages across a 51 mm wafer with good film adhesion after annealing at 800°C for 10 min.