Technology challenges in silicon devices beyond the 16 nm node

An overview of metallic source/drain (MSD) contacts in nano-scaled MOSFET technology is provided in this paper. MSD contacts offer several benefits for nano-scaled CMOS, i.e. extremely low S/D parasitic resistance, abruptly sharp junctions between S/D and channel and preferably low temperature processing. In order to achieve high performance MSD MOSFETs, many design parameters such as Schottky barrier height (SBH), S/D to gate underlap, top Si layer thickness, oxide thickness should be optimized. Recently, efforts have been invested in MSD MOSFETs based on Pt- and Ni-silicide implementation and several promising results have been reported in literature. The experimental work as well as the results of Monte Carlo simulations by several investigators, including the authors, is discussed in this paper. It will be shown that the present results place MSD MOSFETs as a competitive candidate for future generations of CMOS technology.