Formation of cobalt silicide films by ion beam deposition

Abstract Thin films of cobalt silicide are widely used as metallization in very large-scale integrated electronic circuits. In this study, Co ions were deposited on Si(1 1 1) wafers by a high beam current filter metal vacuum arc deposition (FMEVAD) system. Surface silicide films were formed after annealing from 500 to 700 °C for 30 min. The results show that a thin CoSi2 surface layer with both a smooth surface topography and sharp interface can be achieved by annealing at 700 °C. The CoSi phase and O contamination were observed in the samples that were annealed at lower temperatures.