According to one embodiment of the invention, a method for nickel silicidation includes providing a substrate having a source region, a gate region, and a drain region, forming a source in the source region and a drain in the drain region, annealing the source and the drain, implanting, after the annealing the source and the drain, a heavy ion in the source region and the drain region, depositing a nickel layer in each of the source and drain regions, and heating the substrate to form a nickel silicide region in each of the source and drain regions by heating the substrate.