Patent ID: 8563424

Claim:
A method for forming a cobalt silicide material on a substrate surface, comprising: exposing a substrate to either a wet etch solution or a pre-clean plasma during a first step of a pre-clean process, wherein the substrate comprises a silicon-containing material disposed thereon and patterned feature definitions formed within the silicon- containing material; depositing a cobalt metal layer on the silicon-containing material by a chemical vapor deposition process within a first processing chamber coupled with a processing system; heating the substrate to form a first cobalt silicide layer comprising CoSi at the interface of the cobalt metal layer and the silicon-containing material during a first annealing process, wherein a portion of the cobalt metal layer reacts with the silicon-containing material to form the first cobalt silicide layer containing a surface of unreacted cobalt metal thereon; removing the surface of unreacted cobalt metal from the first cobalt silicide layer during an etch process; depositing another metal layer on the substrate during a vapor deposition process within a second processing chamber coupled with the processing system, wherein the vapor deposition process is conducted after the etch process and prior to a second annealing process; and heating the substrate to form a second cobalt silicide layer comprising CoSi 2 from the first cobalt silicide layer during the second annealing process, wherein the substrate is maintained under vacuum within the second processing chamber from the beginning of the vapor deposition process through the end of the second annealing process.