Annealing of implantation damage in integrated-circuit devices using an incoherent light source

Abstract

A stationary large-diameter incoherent light beam has been used to anneal ion-implantation damage (75As:185 keV, 1×1016 cm−2) in an array of n+-p junction diodes fabricated on 3 in. Si (100) wafers. The best diodes produced in this way had device characteristics comparable to those of furnace-annealed diodes (∠0.5;1 nA/cm2 leakage current at 5 V reverse bias). The variation of reverse leakage current across a 3 in. wafer (∠0.5–20 nA/cm2) was much greater than for furnace-annealed diodes and may be caused by nonuniformities in the incoherent light beam. Tests on MOS capacitors showed that when incoherent light annealing was performed with the sample in moderate vacuum (≲10−2 Torr), damage introduced at the Si–SiO2 interface was negligible.