Platinum silicide as electrode material of microfabricated quantum electron tunneling transducers

The platinum silicide is proposed as electrode material for electrostatically controlled MEMS/NEMS, in our case - for nanoelectromechanical sensors based on quantum electron tunneling. The process flow of device fabrication is presented and reasons to use platinum silicide as metallization material are described. In this paper we also demonstrate the use of conductive atomic force micoscopy (AFM) in spreading resistance imaging mode for inspection of topography and electrical properties of platinum silicide surface. The goal of this study is to define the platinum silicide films structural and electrical properties variation after thermal processing (conventional operation in CMOS process flow) and to correct the process flow parameters as may be required. Both AFM-inspection operations of pre- and post-thermal processed test structures are performed. The experimental results are presented.