Impact of cobalt silicidation on the low-frequency noise behavior of shallow P-N junctions

This work describes the low-frequency noise of forward biased shallow p-n j unctions fabricated in epitaxial silicon substrates, Particular emphasis is on the effect of silicidation on the low-frequency noise spectral density S-I. It will be demonstrated that the observed 1/f noise is significantly l arger in Co-silicided junctions compared with the nonsilicided ones. A deta iled analysis of the current and geometry dependence of S-I leads to the co nclusion that the 1/f noise is of the generation-recombination (GR) type, w ith the responsible GR centres homogeneously distributed over the device ar ea. From the correlation with the forward current-voltage (I-V) characteris tics, it is derived that GR fluctuations in the hole current through the n( +) region cause the increased 1/f noise in the silicided devices.