Study on Co- and Ni-base $Si_2$ for SiC ohmic contact

We report the material and electrical properties of $CoSi_2$ and $NiSi_2$contacts to n-type 4H-SiC depending on the post-annealing and the metal covering conditions. The Ni and Co silicides are deposited by RF sputtering with Ni/Si/Ni and Co/Si/Co films separately deposited on 4H-SiC substrates. The deposited films are annealed at $800\;^{\circ}C$ in $Ar:H_2$ (9:1) gas ambient. Results of the specific surface resistivity measurements show that the resistivity of the Co-based metal contact was the one order lower than that of the Ni-based contact. The specific contact resistance was measured by a transmission line technique, and the specific contact resistivity of $1.5{\times}10^{-6}\;{\Omega}\;cm^2$ is obtained for Co/Si/Co metal structures after a two-step annealing; at $550\;^{\circ}C$ for 10 min and $800\;^{\circ}C$ for 3min. The physical properties of the contacts were examined by using XRD and AES, and the results indicate that the Co-based metal contacts have better structural stability of silicide phases formed after the high temperature annealing.