| AVS 65th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Thin Films Division | Thursday Sessions |
| Session TF-ThP |
| Session: | Thin Film Poster Session |
| Presenter: | HanSoo Jang, Semiconductor Physics Reasearch Center(SPRC), Chonbuk National Universityh, Republic of Korea |
| Authors: | C.J. Choi, Semiconductor Physics Reasearch Center(SPRC), Chonbuk National University, Republic of Korea H.S. Jang, Semiconductor Physics Reasearch Center(SPRC), Chonbuk National Universityh, Republic of Korea |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
We present a comprehensive study on the microstructural and electrical properties of Ni stanogermanides formed on Ge0.92Sn0.08 epi-layer grown on Si(100) substrate. For the formation of Ni-stanogermanides, 30 nm-thick Ni film was deposited on Ge0.92Sn0.08 film, followed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process at the temperatures in the range of 300 – 600 °C for 30 s under N2 ambient. Ni-rich stanogermanide (Ni3(Ge1-xSnx)) phase with cubic structure was formed after RTA at 300 °C, above which Ni-mono stanogermanide (Ni(Ge1-xSnx)) was the only phase formed as a result of solid-state reaction between Ni and Ge0.92Sn0.08. The RTA process at 400 °C led to the formation of Ni(Ge1-xSnx) film having relatively uniform surface and interface morphologies, allowing the minimum value of sheet resistance. The samples annealed above 500 °C underwent the severe structural degradation of Ni(Ge1-xSnx) without maintaining film continuity known as agglomeration, resulting in a rapid increase in the sheet resistance. Regardless of RTA temperature, secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) results combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) line profiling showed the segregation of Sn atoms near surface and interface region, indicating that the amount of Sn atoms were out-diffused during Ni-stanogermanides process. In particular, laterally confined Se atoms which were distributed along interface between Ni(Ge1-xSnx) island and Ge0.92Sn0.08 film was observed in the sample annealed at 600 °C.