Metal/Al/Si contacts formed by eutectic rapid thermal melting

Rapid thermal processing (RTP) of Ni(30 nm)/Al(10 nm)/Si_n〈100〉 and Ti(30 nm)/Al(10 nm)/Si_p〈100〉 at temperatures between 580 and 900 °C for 2 s resulted in the formation of unique contact structure due to an eutectic melting reaction initiated at the Al–Si interface. These contacts are in general composed Al compound layers on a metal silicide layer on the Si substrate and have a fairly smooth interface between the layers and the silicon. In the Ti/Al/Si system, the silicide layer of TiSi₂ (45 nm thick) grew epitaxially. In both the Ni/Al/Si and Ti/Al/Si systems the Schottky barrier height and the sheet resistance of the layered structure were strongly affected by the eutectic melting due to the RTP at temperatures higher than 580 °C compared to RTP at temperatures lower than 580 °C, where solid‐state reactions took place.