Effect of annealing ambient on the precipitation processes in oxygen-implanted silicon on-insulator material

Author(s):  
P. Roitman ◽  
D.S. Simons ◽  
Supapan Visitserngtrakul ◽  
C.O. Jung ◽  
S J. Krause

In the last decade, oxygen implanted silicon-on-insulator material (SIMOX: Separation by IMplantation of OXygen) has been extensively studied, due to its potential advantages of increased speed and radiation hardness in integrated circuits. SIMOX material requires two processing steps: first, implantation of a high dose of oxygen to form a buried oxide layer below a thin, top silicon layer; second, a high temperature anneal in an inert gas atmosphere to remove implantation damage and oxide precipitates. Most earlier studies investigated the effect of annealing temperature and time, but did not consider the effect of gas ambient. The effect of nitrogen and argon on the oxide-precipitate formation in bulk silicon has been established. Raider et al. found that in annealing of bulk silicon, nitrogen can diffuse to an oxide-silicon interface and chemically react with silicon. The nitrogen-containing layer acts as a barrier to further oxidation. Consequently, nitrogen influences the growth kinetics of the thermal oxide while annealing in an argon ambient does not. This should apply to SIMOX as well. We have, therefore, investigated the effect of nitrogen and argon ambient on the oxide-precipitate removal during annealing of SIMOX material.

Author(s):  
D. Venables ◽  
S.J. Krause ◽  
J.D. Lee ◽  
J.C. Park ◽  
P. Roitman

Silicon-on-insulator material fabricated by high-dose oxygen implantation (known as SIMOX) has been used for high speed and radiation hard devices and is under consideration for use in low power applications. However, a continuing problem has been crystalline defects in the top silicon layer. SIMOX is fabricated by two distinct methods: a single oxygen implant to a dose of 1.8×l018 cm-2 followed by a high-temperature anneal (≥1300°C, 4-6 hr) or by multiple lower dose implants (∼6×l017 cm-2) with high-temperature anneals after each implant. To date, there has been no systematic comparison of the defect structures produced by these two fabrication methods. Therefore, we have compared the defect structure and densities in multiple vs. single implant wafers. In this paper we describe the origin and characteristics of the defect structures in SIMOX and show how their densities are controlled by the processing method and conditions.Silicon (100) wafers were implanted in a high current implanter at ∼620°C to doses of 1.8×l018 or 0.6/0.6/0.6×l018 cm-2 and annealed at 1325°C, 4 hr in 0.5% or 5% O2 in Ar. Cross-section (XTEM) and plan-view (PTEM) samples were studied with bright field and weak beam dark field techniques in a transmission electron microscope operating at 200 keV.


Author(s):  
N. Lewis ◽  
E. L. Hall ◽  
A. Mogro-Campero ◽  
R. P. Love

The formation of buried oxide structures in single crystal silicon by high-dose oxygen ion implantation has received considerable attention recently for applications in advanced electronic device fabrication. This process is performed in a vacuum, and under the proper implantation conditions results in a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structure with a top single crystal silicon layer on an amorphous silicon dioxide layer. The top Si layer has the same orientation as the silicon substrate. The quality of the outermost portion of the Si top layer is important in device fabrication since it either can be used directly to build devices, or epitaxial Si may be grown on this layer. Therefore, careful characterization of the results of the ion implantation process is essential.


1997 ◽  
Vol 469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guénolé C.M. Silvestre

ABSTRACTSilicon-On-Insulator (SOI) materials have emerged as a very promising technology for the fabrication of high performance integrated circuits since they offer significant improvement to device performance. Thin silicon layers of good crystalline quality are now widely available on buried oxide layers of various thicknesses with good insulating properties. However, the SOI structure is quite different from that of bulk silicon. This paper will discuss a study of point-defect diffusion and recombination in thin silicon layers during high temperature annealing treatment through the investigation of stacking-fault growth kinetics. The use of capping layers such as nitride, thin thermal oxide and thick deposited oxide outlines the diffusion mechanisms of interstitials in the SOI structure. It also shows that the buried oxide layer is a very good barrier to the diffusion of point defects and that excess silicon interstitials may be reincorporated at the top interface with the thermal oxide through the formation of SiO species. Finally, from the experimental values of the activation energies for the growth and the shrinkage of stacking-faults, the energy of interstitial creation is evaluated to be 2.6 eV, the energy for interstitial migration to be 1.8 eV and the energy of interstitial generation during oxidation to be 0.2 eV.


1991 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 792-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Supapan Visitserngtrakul ◽  
Stephen J. Krause ◽  
John C. Barry

Conventional and high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) were used to study the structure of {113} defects in high-dose oxygen implanted silicon. The defects are created with a density of 1011 cm−2 below the buried oxide layer in the substrate region. The HREM images of the {113} defects are similar to the ribbon-like defects in bulk silicon. It is proposed that there is a third possible structure of the defects, in addition to coesite and/or hexagonal structures. Portions of some defects exhibit the original cubic diamond structure which is twinned across {115} planes. The atomic model shows that the {115} interface is a coherent interface with alternating five- and seven-membered rings and no dangling bonds.


2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1088-1089
Author(s):  
A. Domenicucci ◽  
R. Murphy ◽  
D. Sadanna ◽  
S. Klepeis

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been used extensively in recent years to study the topographic nature of surfaces in the nanometer range. Its high resolution and ability to be automated have made it an indispensable tool in semiconductor fabrication. Traditionally, AFM has been used to monitor the surface roughness of substrates fabricated by separation by implanted oxygen (SIMOX) processes. It was during such monitoring that a novel use of AFM was uncovered.A SIMOX process requires two basic steps - a high dose oxygen ion implantation (1017 to 1018 cm-3) followed by a high temperature anneal (>1200°C). The result of these processes is to form a buried oxide layer which isolates a top single crystal silicon layer from the underlying substrate. Pairs of threading dislocations can form in the top silicon layer during the high temperature anneal as a result of damage caused during the high dose oxygen implant.


1989 ◽  
Vol 163 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Visitserngtrakul ◽  
J. Barry ◽  
S. Krause

AbstractConventional and high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) were used to study the structure of the {113} defects in high-dose oxygen implanted silicon. The defects are created with a density of 1011 cm-2 below the buried oxide layer in the substrate region. The {113} defects are similar to the ribbon-like defects in bulk silicon. Our HREM observations show that two crystalline phases are present in the defect. Portions of the defects exhibit the original cubic diamond structure which is twinned across {115} planes. The atomic model shows that the {115} interface is a coherent interface with alternating five- and seven-membered rings and no dangling bonds.


Author(s):  
June-Dong Lee ◽  
Stephen Krause ◽  
Peter Roitman

Fabrication of integrated circuits on SOI (Silicon-On-Insulator) material is very attractive because it offers high component density, immunity to latch-up and radiation hardness. Among various SOI techniques SIMOX Separation by IMplantation of OXygen) provides the best material, with carrier mobilities and defect densities approaching bulk silicon values, Early SIMOX wafers were implanted at temperatures below 600°C and annealed at high temperature (>1300°C), which gave a high defect density (109cm−2), including threading dislocations and narrow stacking faults (SFs), as shown in Figure 1. Higher temperature (>600°C) implantation of SIMOX reduced defect densities to 106cm-2 with pairs of narrow SFs in the top silicon layer, as shown in Figure 2. This paper describes a further reduction of defect density in SIMOX material through various annealing conditions, which has resulted in a defect density less than 105cm−2. A new formation mechanism for stacking fault tetrahedra is also discussed.Silicon (100) wafers were sequentially implanted (620°C) and annealed (at 1320°C for 5 hours) to doses of 0.5, 0.5, and 0.8×l018cm-2.


Author(s):  
Ju-Chul Park ◽  
Stephen Krause ◽  
Mohammed El-Ghor

Integrated circuits on SIMOX (Separation by IMplantation of OXygen) have higher speed, radiation hardness, and higher temperature capability. Defects in the top Si layer inhibit bipolar applications and may affect CMOS(Complementary Metal-On-Semiconductor) device yield, operation and reliability. As-implanted SIMOX has many types of defects, including short stacking faults(SFs), multiply faulted defects(MFDs), and {113} defects. In annealed SIMOX, new defects form during the ramping cycle. The effect of thermal ramping rate on the development of new defects has received only limited study. In this work, the effects of rapid thermal annealing(RTA) and thermal ramp rate on defect density and structural change were studied.Two set of samples were prepared with different oxygen doses. First, one set of (100) Si wafers was implanted with a high dose of 1.8×l018cm−2 at 200 KeV at 620°C. A rapid thermal anneal(RTA) wafer was obtained from a lamp anneal for 1 minute at 1320°C using a ramp rate of 50°C/sec. A portion of this sample was then conventionally annealed in a tube furnace for 5 hours at 1320°C. Another set of (100) Si wafers was implanted with a low dose of 3×l015cm−2 at 25°C. Different samples were then annealed at 1250°C for 30 sec using three ramp rates of 50°C/sec, l°C/sec and 0.1°C/sec. Cross-sections of the samples were studied with conventional transmission electron microscopy (CTEM) at 200 KeV.


Author(s):  
S. J. Krause ◽  
C. O. Jung ◽  
S.R. Wilson

Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structure by high dose oxygen implantation (SIMOX) has excellent potential for use in radiation hardened and high speed integrated circuits. Device fabrication in SIMOX requires a high quality superficial Si layer above the buried oxide layer. Previously we reported on the effect of heater temperature, background doping, and annealing cycle on precipitate size, density, and location in the superficial Si layer. Precipitates were not eliminated with our processing conditions, but various authors have recently reported that high temperature annealing of SIMOX, from 1250°C to 1405°C, eliminates virtually all precipitates in the superficial Si layer. However, in those studies there were significant differences in implantation energy and dose and also annealing time and temperature. Here we are reporting on the effect of annealing time and temperature on the formation and changes in precipitates.


Author(s):  
Aydan Uyar ◽  
Abdulkadir Yurt ◽  
T. Berkin Cilingiroglu ◽  
Bennett B. Goldberg ◽  
M. Selim Ünlü

Abstract The demand for high resolution has raised interest for the use of aplanatic solid immersion lenses (aSIL) for backside optical inspection and failure analysis of integrated circuits due to its high numerical aperture capability. This work investigates the performance of aSIL microscopy in imaging of fully depleted silicon on insulator (SOI) chips and explores the effect of the buried oxide (BOx) thickness on the spatial resolution and photon collection efficiency. Three different cases, namely, bulk silicon, SOI with an ultrathin BOx of 10 nm, and SOI with a standard BOx thickness of 145 nm, are studied. It is observed that there is a 15% drop in the collection efficiency for ultra-thin BOx compared to bulk silicon and up to 80% decrease in the collection efficiency and 30% increase in the spot-size for standard Box.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document