Chemical vapor deposition of cobalt and formation of cobalt disilicide.

The deposition of Co thin films by organometallic chemical vapor deposition is reported. Co is of interest in VLSI technology as a catalyst for electroless plating of other metals and as a precursor to formation of CoSi sub 2. High purity, conformal films of Co are deposited by pyrolysis of Co sub 2 (CO) sub 8 at 200C in vacuum. These films exhibit electrical resistivities of 5-10 microohms -cm and excellent adhesions to Si and Si0 sub 2. CoSi sub 2 is formed by heating the samples at 700C. The Co Si sub 2 films resulting from reaction of the Co films with the Si substrate contain larger grains than the starting film and exhibit electrical resistivities of 13- 37 microohms -cm. Selective formation of Co Si sub 2 on patterned test wafers shows similar attributes.