Enhanced formation of periodic arrays of low-resistivity NiSi nanocontacts on (0 0 1)Si 0.7 Ge 0.3 by nanosphere lithography with a thin interposing Si layer

S. L. Cheng, C. Y. Zhan, S. W. Lee, H. Chen

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2 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this study, we demonstrated significant enhancement of the formation of low-resistivity NiSi nanocontacts with controlled size on (0 0 1)Si 0.7 Ge 0.3 substrates by combining the nanosphere lithography with the use of a new Ni/a-Si bilayer nanodot structure. Low-resistivity NiSi with an average size of 78 nm was observed to be the only silicide phase formed in samples annealed at 350-800 °C. The presence of the interposing Si layer with appropriate thickness was found to effectively prevent Ge segregation and maintain the interface stability in forming NiSi nanocontacts on (0 0 1)Si 0.7 Ge 0.3 . As the annealing temperature was increased to 900 °C, amorphous SiO x nanowires were observed to grow from silicide nanocontact regions. The NSL technique in conjunction with a sacrificial Si interlayer process promises to be applicable in fabricating periodic arrays of other low-resistivity silicide nanocontacts on Si 1-x Ge x substrates without complex lithography.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8712-8717
Number of pages6
JournalApplied Surface Science
Volume257
Issue number20
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Aug 2011

Keywords

  • Nanocontacts
  • Nanosphere lithography
  • NiSi
  • Si interlayer
  • SiGe

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