Characterization and Modeling of Stress Evolution during Nickel Silicides Formation

An curvature measurement technique was used to characterize the stress evolution during reaction of a Ni film and a silicon substrate to form nickel silicide. Stress changes were measured at each stage of the silicide growth. When the nickel films were subjected to longtime isothermal annealing, stresses that developed during silicide formation gradually relaxed. Fitting the experimental results with a kinetic model provides insight into the volumetric strain and relaxation behavior of the reacting film and the reaction product.