Tuning of the Nickel Silicide Schottky Barrier Height on p-Type Silicon by Indium Implantation

In this letter, indium (In) implantation is introduced as a method to tune the Schottky barrier height of nickel silicide (NiSi) contacts formed on p-type silicon. Indium implantation is performed prior to NiSi formation and the implant conditions are chosen such that the implanted region is entirely consumed by the silicide. During silicide formation, some of the indium segregates at the NiSi-Si interface and can have a significant impact on the Schottky barrier height. It is shown that the barrier height decreases almost linearly with the In dose from 0.37 eV on p-type Si to 0.16 eV with an In dose of 1 times 10¹⁴ cm^-2 on p-type Si.