The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 20, 2001
Filed:
Nov. 04, 1998
Paul R. Besser, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Nick Kepler, Saratoga, CA (US);
Karsten Wieczorek, Reichenberg-Boxdorf, DE;
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A method of forming metal silicide in a semiconductor wafer with reduced junction leakage introduces an alloy at cobalt grain boundaries within a cobalt layer that overlays a silicon layer. The alloy element can be precipitated during deposition of the cobalt and the alloy element, or by an intermediate anneal after deposition. The cobalt layer and the silicon layer are then annealed to form metal silicide regions. By precipitating an alloy at the cobalt grain boundaries, cobalt diffusion at the grain boundaries is retarded during a first rapid thermal annealing step. Bulk diffusion is encouraged, and a more uniform silicide film with reduced interface roughness is produced. Since the interface roughness is reduced with the methods of the present invention, junction leakage is reduced. This allows shallower junctions to be fabricated, leading to devices with improved performance.