Laser thermal anneal formation of atomically-flat low-resistive germanide contacts

In this work, state-of-the-art laser thermal annealing (LTA) is used to form germanide contacts on n-doped Ge, and is compared to results generated by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). Surface topography, interface quality, crystal structure, and material stoichiometry are explored for both techniques. For electrical characterization, specific contact resistivities ρ{variant}_c are extracted. It is shown that LTA can produce a uniform contact with a remarkably smooth substrate interface, with ρ{variant}_c 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than the equivalent RTA case. A ρ{variant}_c of 2.84×10^-7 Ω.cm² is achieved for optimized LTA parameters.