Athermal Annealing of Ion-Implanted Silicon

本提案将继续研究非热退火工艺。该过程包括将高能激光脉冲聚焦到样品表面上的一个小点（约2毫米）。已经发现这样的激光脉冲将退火离子注入硅中大约1cm 2的区域。它已经表明，退火发生没有热的引入，因此不同于传统的热过程。这一过程已经证明了在硅上100%的再现性，硅已经被硼、磷和砷离子注入。在硼的植入能量低至1keV时，证明了该工艺的有效性。目前的项目将研究增加退火面积的方法，并将该工艺应用于不同的材料。增加面积将通过尝试不同的激光聚焦方案来完成。这些方法包括使用圆柱形透镜而不是球面透镜，改变激光光斑大小和入射角，以及使用其他方法在材料中发射冲击波。要研究的不同材料系统包括图像化硅片，简单的电气结构，如二极管，GaAs， GaN和高k介电材料。加工后，该工艺的有效性将通过红外吸收光谱、二次离子质谱、扩散电阻谱、透射电子显微镜和薄片电阻率测量来确定。该项目的完成将增加材料加工的知识，并可能为半导体工业提供一个有价值的加工步骤。该项目还将服务于教育目的，雇用研究生和本科生，然后他们可以从事科学和工程方面的职业。

This proposal will continue the investigation of a non-thermal annealing process. The process involves focusing a high energy laser pulse to a small (~2 mm) spot on the surface of a sample. It has been found that such a laser pulse will anneal areas of approximately 1cm 2 in ion-implanted silicon. It has been shown that the annealing occurs without the introduction of heat, and is therefore different that conventional thermal processes. The process has demonstrated 100% reproducibility on silicon that has been ion-implanted with boron, phosphorus, and arsenic. The effectiveness of the process has been demonstrated at implant energies as low as 1keV for boron. The current project would investigate methods for increasing the annealed area, and apply the process to different materials. Increasing the area will be accomplished by trying different laser focusing schemes. These involve using cylindrical lenses instead of spherical lenses, varying the laser spot size, and angle of incidence, and using other methods of launching shock waves in the material. Different material systems to be investigated include patterned silicon wafers, simple electrical structures, such as diodes, GaAs, GaN, and high-k dielectric materials. After processing, the effectiveness of the process will be determined using infrared absorption spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, spreading resistance profiling, transmission electron microscopy, and sheet resistivity measurements. Completion of the projectwill increase knowledge of materials processing, and may provide a valuable processing step for the semiconductor industry. The project will also serve an educational purpose, employing both graduate and undergraduate students, who can then pursue careers in science and engineering.