IRIDIUM SILICIDES OBTAINED BY RAPID THERMAL ANNEALING

Iridium silicides formation by RTA in an Ar atmosphere or under vacuum has been studied for several temperatures in the range of 350-500 deg rees C. For the samples annealed in argon atmosphere, oxygen is incorp orated during the RTA process, slowing down the reaction at the interf ace or even stopping it. In this case, no clear compound, Ir1Si1 or Ir 1Si1.75, could be identified neither from the RBS spectra nor from the AES profiles. On the other hand, when the anneal is performed under v acuum, silicidation takes place. In samples processed at 400 degrees C in these conditions and processing time shorter than 45 s only the Ir 1S1 compound was formed. For longer annealing time, Ir1Si1.75 appeared too. At higher temperatures, even for very short processing time, Ir1 Si1.75 was formed.