Laser-forming of ultrathin amorphized Si layer for microelectronics applications – LAMORSIM

Contact silicides are critical building blocks of micro and nanoelectronic devices and are commonly used to provide electrical contact between transistors and copper interconnects. For this, The requirements ultrathin silicides layers (between 10 and 20 nm) are required that are currently obtained via Pre-Amorphization process using ion Implantation (PAI) of silicon surface prior to the reactive metal deposition. Given the influence of the amorphous layer properties on the silicidation, a better control over the pre-amorphization process is highly desirable. Herein, we propose to investigate, both experimentally and numerically, laser-based treatments for the advent of an efficient process alternative holding promises to meet the requirements for the highly demanding sector of microelectronics. In particular, amorphization of silicon can be obtained by ultrafast quenching following ultrashort (fs) pulsed lasers allowing one to take advantage from the fact that laser pulse is shorter than the electron-phonon relaxation time which is favorable for the minimization of the laser-affected, and, since minimization zone. Several questions are however still under discussion, namely concerning the choice of laser-induced excitation conditions for the desired materials response, the dependence on laser parameters, particularly on laser wavelength (NIR-VIS-UV) and pulse duration, and process optimization. In this project, three competent and complementary partners: (1) an experimental group (LP3), (2) a numerical group (LabHC-Lasermode), and (3) an industrial partner (STMicroelectronics) will work together to answer these scientific questions, but also to meet the industrial requirements and to develop a new fs laser-based technology and to extend the fields of laser applications in microelectronics