Pore formation on the silicon-metal interface in silicon-on-insulator structures

Pore formation is considered on the interface between a metal film and upper silicon layer in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structures under high temperature conditions. It is assumed that the interface transmits silicon self-interstitials and collects vacancies, which results in the vacancy-related defect formation. The role of the buried insulator as a diffusion barrier for point defects is discussed. It is shown that vacancy pileup on the metal-silicon layer interface depends on the deformation introduced in the silicon layer by both the metal film and buried insulator. A metallization technique based on multicomponent amorphous metal films is shown to produce long-life SOI-based devices. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.