Abstract
A germanosilicide technology employing
Ni
0.95
Pd
0.05
alloy to improve the germanosilicide film texture strucutre on relaxed
Si
1
−
x
Ge
x
substrate has been developed. Highly oriented
(
Ni
0.95
Pd
0.05
)
y
(
Si
1
−
x
Ge
x
)
1
−
y
films where
x
=
0.2
, 0.25, 0.3, and
y
≈
0.5
are obtained at 400°C annealing with (200) as the preferred orientation, as was revealed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction results. The formation of the highly oriented
(
Ni
0.95
Pd
0.05
)
y
(
Si
1
−
x
Ge
x
)
1
−
y
film can be explained by interface and surface energies minimization due to the addition of Pd.