Transmission electron microscopy study of erbium silicide formation from Ti/Er stack for Schottky contact applications.
In this paper, we present results of transmission electron microscopy studies on erbium silicide structures fabricated under various thermal conditions. A titanium cap has been used as a protective layer against oxidation during rapid thermal annealing of an erbium layer in a temperature range of 300-700 degrees C. Both layers (200 nm Ti and 25 nm Er) were deposited by electron-beam sputtering. The investigations have shown that the transformation of the 25-nm-thick erbium into erbium silicide is completed after annealing at 500 degrees C. At higher temperatures, the formation of a titanium silicide layer above erbium silicide is observed. The lowest Schottky barrier has been measured in the sample annealed at 700 degrees C.
Ratajczak
J
J
Institute of Electron Technology, Al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland. rataj@ite.waw.pl
Łaszcz
A
A
Czerwinski
A
A
Katcki
J
J
Phillipp
F
F
Van Aken
P A
PA
Reckinger
N
N
Dubois
E
E