Citation

Bhaskaran M, Sriram S, du Plessis J, Holland AS. Electronics Letters 2007; 43(8): 479-480.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007)

DOI

10.1049/el:20070203

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Nickel silicide (NiSi) is highly suitable for microsystem fabrication, exhibiting suitable mechanical properties and good resistance to bulk micromachining etchants. Conditions for the formation of nickel suicide by vacuum annealing thin films of nickel deposited on silicon substrates are investigated. Nickel suicide thin films formed using sputtered and evaporated nickel films were analysed using Auger electron spectroscopy, which has shown that evaporated thin films of nickel tend to form nickel silicide more readily and with less thermal effort.

Language: en

Keywords

Annealing; Thin films; Vacuum applications; Etching; Silicon substrates; Nickel silicide; Auger electron spectroscopy; Nickel compounds; Micromachining; Microsystem devices