Effect of substitutional carbon concentration on Schottky-barrier height of nickel silicide formed on epitaxial silicon-carbon films

Abstract

The effective electron Schottky barrier height (φB N) of nickel silicide (NiSi:C) formed on silicon-carbon (Si 1-yCy or Si:C) films with different substitutional carbon concentrations Csub was investigated. φB N was observed to decrease substantially with an increase in Csub. When C sub is increased from 0% to 1.5%, φB N is reduced by 200 meV. The results of this work could be useful for the reduction in contact resistance between nickel silicide and silicon-carbon source and drain in strained n -channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.