Effect of current crowding on contact failure in heavily doped n(+)- and p(+)-silicon-on-insulator

Stability of submicron contacts under high current density has been an outs tanding reliability issue in advanced Si devices. Polarity effect of failur e was observed in Ni and Ni2Si contacts on n(+)-Si and p(+)-Si, In this rep ort, we studied the failure due to high current density in contacts to n(+) - and p(+)-silicon-on-insulator (SOI), We found similar polarity effects be low certain current: the p(+)-SOI failed preferentially at the cathode, whi le the n(+)-SOI failed preferentially at the anode. At higher current, dama ge occurred at both contacts. The effect of current crowding was evident in both cases.