Titanium silicide formation in a narrow source-drain contact

1. A semiconductor device, formed via a process, comprising:

forming a source-drain region, a replacement metal gate, and an inter-layer dielectric layer on a substrate;

etching a contact trench that is less than 30 nm in width through the inter-layer dielectric layer to the source-drain region;

depositing a titanium liner in the contact trench, the titanium liner covering substantially an entirety of a bottom and walls of the contact trench;

depositing an x-metal layer over the titanium liner on the bottom of the contact trench, wherein the x-metal layer comprises at least one of: platinum, hafnium, cobalt, nickel, or tungsten;

forming a titanium nitride liner on substantially an entirety of the walls of the contact trench, and

forming a tungsten contact to the source-drain region in the contact trench,

wherein the x-metal layer prevents a nitriding of the titanium liner on the bottom of the contact trench, and

wherein the titanium nitride liner binds the tungsten contact to the walls of the contact trench.

2. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , the process further comprising:

depositing the x-metal layer over the titanium liner on substantially an entirety of the walls of the contact trench; and

depositing the titanium nitride liner over the x-metal layer on substantially an entirety of the walls of the contact trench,

wherein the depositing of each of the titanium liner, the x-metal layer, and the titanium nitride liner is performed via an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process.

3. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the forming of the titanium nitride liner further comprises:

annealing a portion of the titanium liner deposited on the walls of the contact trench with at least one of N or NH 3 to form a portion of the titanium nitride liner on the walls of the contact trench, and

depositing titanium nitride over the x-metal layer on the bottom of the contact trench via a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process, to form a portion of the titanium nitride liner on the bottom of the contact trench.

4. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the forming of the titanium nitride liner further comprises:

depositing the titanium nitride liner over the x-metal layer on the bottom of the contact trench via a reactive sputtering physical vapor deposition (PVD) process in an N 2 ambient environment, to form a portion of the titanium nitride liner on the bottom of the contact trench,

wherein the reactive sputtering PVD process causes a nitriding of a portion of the titanium liner deposited on the walls of the contact trench.

5. A semiconductor device, comprising:

a source-drain region, a metal gate, and an inter-layer dielectric layer on a substrate;

a contact trench through the inter-layer dielectric layer to the source-drain region;

a titanium liner in the contact trench, the titanium liner covering substantially an entirety of a bottom of the contact trench, wherein the titanium liner is not nitrided;

an x-metal layer over the titanium liner on the bottom of the contact trench;

a titanium nitride liner directly contacting the inter-layer dielectric on substantially an entirety of the walls of the contact trench, and

a contact to the source-drain region in the contact trench and bound by the titanium nitride liner to the walls of the contact trench.

6. The semiconductor device of claim 5 , wherein the contact trench is less than 30 nm in width.

7. The semiconductor device of claim 5 , wherein the x-metal layer comprises at least one of: platinum, hafnium, cobalt, nickel, or tungsten.

8. The semiconductor device of claim 5 , wherein the contact comprises tungsten.

9. The semiconductor device of claim 5 , wherein the metal gate is a replacement metal gate.

10. A semiconductor device, comprising:

a source-drain region comprising silicon, a metal gate, and an inter-layer dielectric layer on a substrate;

a contact trench through the inter-layer dielectric layer to the source-drain region;

a titanium liner in the contact trench, the titanium liner covering substantially an entirety of a bottom of the contact trench;

an x-metal layer over the titanium liner on the bottom of the contact trench;

a titanium nitride liner directly contacting the inter-layer dielectric on substantially an entirety of the walls of the contact trench,

a contact to the source-drain region in the contact trench and bound by the titanium nitride liner to the walls of the contact trench; and

a titanium silicide between the titanium liner on the bottom of the contact trench and the source-drain region.

11. The semiconductor device of claim 10 , wherein the contact trench is less than 30 nm in width.

12. The semiconductor device of claim 10 , wherein the x-metal layer comprises at least one of: platinum, hafnium, cobalt, nickel, or tungsten.

13. The semiconductor device of claim 10 , wherein the contact comprises tungsten.

14. The semiconductor device of claim 10 , wherein the metal gate is a replacement metal gate.

15. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the x-metal layer comprises platinum.

16. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the x-metal layer comprises hafnium.

17. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the x-metal layer comprises cobalt.

18. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the x-metal layer comprises nickel.

19. The semiconductor device of claim 1 , wherein the x-metal layer comprises tungsten.

20. The semiconductor device of claim 3 , wherein the annealing the portion of the titanium liner deposited on the walls of the contact trench to form a portion of the titanium nitride liner on the walls of the contact trench is with nitrogen.