Investigation of Ni-based silicide formation by different dynamic surface annealing approaches
Sub-melt millisecond anneal (MSA) is one of major anneal techniques for forming ultra-shallow and highly activated junctions. Besides post-implant anneal for source/drain and source/drain extensions, MSA has also attracted increased interests in nickel-silicide formation recently. During the silicidation process, desired Ni diffusion in forming silicides is competing with un-wanted Ni diffusion along defects paths. The latter will cause higher junction leakage and/or source/drain leakage. Since the activation energy for the un-wanted diffusion is lower, higher process temperature with shorter duration is beneficial for minimizing the un-wanted diffusion. Furthermore, MSA allows high process temperature to be used for silicide formation, which can re-activate some dopants, such as arsenic and phosphors. These dopants are easily deactivated during lower temperature thermal processes post source/drain formation such as silicide block film deposition; therefore, transistor performance can be improved by using MSA for silicidation processes. In this work, dynamic surface annealing (DSA), which is one form of MSA techniques, was applied to form Ni-based silicides. The impacts of different combinations of soak RTA and DSA for thermal steps before and after selective nickel/NiSi strip were examined. One step DSA has been demonstrated effective reduction of Nickel piping by e-beam inspection count, improved NiSi resistance and junction leakage w/o device performance degradation.
Advances on 32nm NiPt Salicide process
The two steps RTP program for 32nm NiPt silicide formation process has been evaluated to improve source-drain resistance (Rsd), resistance uniformity and device leakage reduction behavior. A lower RTP-1 process has been investigated over the Nickel rich silicide phase formation and physical defect reduction. A higher millisecond anneal (MSA) RTP-2 has been investigated of its process window on Nickel monosilicide formation without Nickel silicide agglomeration and additional nickel piping. Then the optimized RTP program which combines a lower RTP-1 and higher RTP-2 by MSA has been demonstrated effective reduction of Nickel piping by e-beam inspection count, improved source to drain resistance (Rsd) and CMOS drive current (Ion/Ioff) improvement 4% on NMOSFET and 3% on PMOSFET, respectively.
From student to therapist: exploring the first year of practice.
OBJECTIVES
The transition from classroom to clinical practice challenges many health professional students. This study used a phenomenological approach to explore the lived experience of rehabilitation students during their final placement and first year of practice.


METHOD
Students (n = 6) in occupational therapy and physical therapy wrote reflective journals every 2 weeks during their final fieldwork placement and first year of practice. The researchers independently analyzed the journals for common themes. An independent peer completed a blind analysis of two journals. Data were also compared with published first-person accounts of novice practitioners.


RESULTS
The lived experience of the first year of practice included four consecutive stages: Transition, Euphoria and Angst, Reality of Practice, and Adaptation. Themes from the journals included great expectations, competence, politics, shock, education, and strategies.


CONCLUSION
Recognizing the stages in the process of transition from student to therapist may assist in educational curriculum development and clinical support and supervision for new graduates. Educators need to continue to make education practice relevant while maintaining a theoretical perspective.