SILICIDE INTERFACES IN SILICON TECHNOLOGY

This paper does not constitute an overall review of the role of interf aces in the use of silicides in current microelectronic technology. Ho wever, for the sake of some degree of completeness, most of the uses o f silicides, be it infrared detection or thermoelectric generation, ar e mentioned and some recent references listed. Emphasis is given to fo ur different topics. The first is the use of PtSi for ohmic and rectif ying contacts; this provides the opportunity a) to look at the develop ment of planar device metallization, starting with aluminum, and b) to survey briefly elements of the theory of Schottky and ohmic contacts to semiconductors. A second topic is the epitaxy of silicides on silic on, with a brief discussion of beta-FeSi2, recently shown to be electr oluminescent, What is known about grain boundary diffusion in silicide s and other intermetallic compounds is reviewed with some speculation about the structure of grain boundaries and the consequences for silic ide growth via solid state reactions. Finally, the role of epitaxy bet ween various morphological variations of TiSi2 is examined because of the important place of this silicide in metal oxide semiconductor fiel d effect transistor technology.