SBIR Phase I: Model-Based Control of Millisecond Flash Annealing of Semiconductor Wafers

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This Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of using model-based control of temperature and stress for millisecond flash annealing of semiconductor wafers. In response to the demand for ever faster chips that consume less power, the tools for fabrication of integrated circuits (IC's) are required to provide increasingly precise control of the manufacturing process, e.g., control of the transient wafer temperature during thermal processing. The manufacture of an IC involves hundreds of steps. One of these steps is thermal annealing used for dopant activation, a critical step in IC chip manufacturing. Next-generation IC's need very shallow and abrupt junctions that require annealing over shorter time periods and at higher temperatures, which is not possible with current conventional spike annealing equipment. Millisecond annealing with pulsed flash-lamps has the potential to meet the new annealing requirements. However, challenges related to reproducibility and stress-induced wafer damage must be overcome before flash anneal can be used in high-volume manufacturing. The project proposes to develop and commercialize a control software product to help accelerate the transition of flash anneal to the semiconductor industry. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is in its ability to help enable widespread adoption of flash anneal during semiconductor wafer processing. There is a significant potential for millisecond flash anneal to complement and eventually replace conventional lamp-based Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) for some important steps in semiconductor manufacturing. The RTP market has reached close to $308 million in 2008, and is expected to grow significantly in the future. The proposed product will enable flash annealing to meet the formidable process control requirements and economic metrics, and help transition it to high-volume manufacturing. This will benefit customers and will in turn benefit the IC makers and ultimately benefit US consumers with smaller, faster, lower power devices. These innovations will make a significant contribution to advancing production technologies for future microelectronic devices, which will benefit the society at large.