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

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将展示基于模型的温度和应力控制用于半导体晶圆毫秒闪光退火的可行性。为了响应对消耗更少功率的更快芯片的需求，制造集成电路(IC)的工具被要求提供对制造过程的日益精确的控制，例如，在热处理期间控制晶片的瞬时温度。集成电路的制造涉及数百个步骤。其中一个步骤是用于掺杂激活的热退火，这是IC芯片制造中的关键步骤。下一代集成电路需要非常浅和陡峭的结，需要在更短的时间段和更高的温度下进行退火，这在目前的传统尖峰退火设备中是不可能的。脉冲闪光灯毫秒级退火有可能满足新的退火要求。然而，在闪光退火法可以用于大批量制造之前，必须克服与重复性和应力诱导的晶片损伤相关的挑战。该项目建议开发一种控制软件产品并将其商业化，以帮助加快闪速退火法向半导体行业的过渡。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于它能够帮助在半导体晶片加工过程中广泛采用闪光退火法。在半导体制造中的一些重要步骤中，毫秒级闪光退火法有很大的潜力来补充并最终取代传统的基于灯的快速热处理(RTP)。RTP市场在2008年已达到近3.08亿美元，预计未来将大幅增长。拟议的产品将使闪光退火能够满足强大的工艺控制要求和经济指标，并有助于将其过渡到大批量生产。这将使客户受益，进而使IC制造商受益，并最终使美国消费者受益，拥有更小、更快、更低功率的设备。这些创新将为推进未来微电子设备的生产技术做出重大贡献，这将造福于整个社会。

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.