Characterization and Modeling of Stress Evolution During Nickel Silicides Formation

Abstract

An curvature measurement technique was used to characterize the stress evolution during reaction of a Ni film and a silicon substrate to form nickel silicide. Stress changes were measured at each stage of the silicide growth. When the nickel films were subjected to long-time isothermal annealing, stresses that developed during silicide formation gradually relaxed. Fitting the experimental results with a kinetic model provides insight into the volumetric strain and relaxation behavior of the reacting film and the reaction product.