Selective silicidation of Co using silane or disilane for anti-oxidation barrier layer in Cu metallization

Aiming to realize a conductive passivation layer for copper interconnection, the solid-gas reactions of cobalt films with silane and with disilane to form cobalt silicides are experimentally investigated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that cobalt silicides layers of up to 6 nm thickness can be selectively formed in the reaction at 473-673 K within 5 min without detectable silicon deposition on silicon dioxide, a common inter-metal dielectric layer. Rapid thermal oxidation experiments revealed that the silicided cobalt layers had better anti-oxidation performance than untreated cobalt layers, and the effect of silicidation was to suppress copper out-diffusion through the cobalt layers. Because cobalt-based alloys can be selectively electroless-plated on copper, selective silicidation of cobalt layers will be easily incorporated into device processing.