Ion Implantation

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Ion Implantation
Ion implantation is a process by which energetic atoms can be introduced into
a single crystal substrate in order to change its electronic properties.

• Ion Implantation is the predominant method of doping in use today.

– It has almost completely replaced thermal diffusion doping.
– Driven by reduced feature sizes.

 Shockley patented the concept of Ion Implantation for semiconductor

doping in 1956 (2 years after Pfann patented the diffusion concept). First
commercial implanters were introduced in 1973. Modern implanters are
multi-million dollar machines!

What are the problems with Diffusion technology ?

a. High temp in diffusion

- Low temp process.

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b. SiO2 ( mask layer) is always require
before diffusion process
( as diffusion is required in certain
area).

c. Lateral diffusion is also there.

- Less lateral doping in Ion Implantation

d. Separate diffusion system is

required for dopants –
Contamination problem.

- Whereas in ion implantation is

less prone to contamination
problem
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e. High concentration (peak) can not be well below the surface in diffusion.
- We can however do it easily with ion implantation.

f. Better control and flexibility

1. Ion dose

2. Ion energy

and hence better control over

concentration profile.

Small dose and less energy can give us

shallow junction and low surface
concentration.

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3. Ion implantation is very useful to MOSFET, we can tailor the threshold voltage.

4. No role of concentration gradient maintenance.

We can achieve solubility in access of the limit of solid solubility.

Most important, If we want peak concentration to be inside, we can do that.

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Disadvantage

 Costly system and maintenance cost is also high.

 Damage in silicon lattice.

- It creates damage on the surface for which we have to anneal the sample to
recover ~ 900 C as shown in next slide. Damages are removed but, annealing
initiates the diffusion process that modifies the doping profile.

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Doping by Ion Implantation

• Before implant:
– The silicon crystal lattice is continuous and ordered.

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• After implant:
– The silicon crystal becomes damaged.
– Dopants are not incorporated into the lattice.

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How to make dopant ions occupy Si sites?

• Annealing:
– Anneal repairs the crystal damage and allows the dopants to migrate
into substitutional sites in the lattice.

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Ion implantation is the dominant method of doping used today.
It is favored because:

• Large range of doses - 1011 to 1016 atoms/cm2

• Extremely accurate dose control (<1%)
• Essential for MOS VTh
• Low temperature process (thermal budget)
• Wide choice of masking materials
• Buried (retrograde) profiles are possible

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Ion Implantor

1. Ion source

a. Dopant source
b. Ionization scheme

2. Ion Extractor

3. Accelerator

4. Mass Separator

5. X-Y beam scanner

We have to maintain low pressure of the order of 10-6 Torr

to minimize ion scattering by gas molecules
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BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 Ion source

B, P or As are produced from the ionization

of gas phase species
•B from BF3
•P from PH3
•As from AsH3

A plasma may be produced in the laboratory by heating a gas to an extremely

high temperature, which causes such vigorous collisions between its atoms and
molecules that electrons are ripped free, yielding the requisite electrons and ions
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Ion source – beam extraction

Species with different mass

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Ion implantation – ion acceleration

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Ion selection ?

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 F=qv×B
F = mv2/R ( centripetal force)

The Lorentz magnetic force

supplies the centripetal force, so
these terms are equal:
qvB=mv2 / r

v = qBr/m

This velocity was imparted in the

accelerator section by using an electric
field.

½ mv2 = qV ( where V = Voltage applied)

v = sqrt (2qV/m)
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 v = qBr/m = sqrt (2qV/m)

r = 1/B*(sqrt ( 2Vm/ q)

 Magnetic filed of analyzer is

chosen such that only ions
with the desired charge to
mass ratio can travel through
without being blocked by slit.

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BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Batch implanter

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Simple approach to ion implantation – a
cascade process

•Atomic cascades affect crystal

structure

• The implanted atoms stop once their

energy goes below a certain threshold.

• Further annealing is required.

Ion implantation is a random process.

• High energy ions (1-1000keV) bombard

the substrate and lose energy through
nuclear collisions and electronic drag
forces.

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 Energetic incident ions collide with target

(Si)SiSiI + SiV
atoms, leading to their displacement.
The result is an interstitial atom and a
vacancy, V-I pair = Frankel defect.
I: interstitial; V: vacancy The displaced atoms may have energy
high enough to further displace other target
atoms along its path.
Vacancy

Self
interstiti
al

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Ion Distribution
The total distance that an ion travels before coming to rest is called as its range ( R)

RP = Projection of this distance

along the axis of incidence is
called as projected range

Ion beam

As number of collision per unit distance and

energy lost per collision are random variable
and thus spatial distribution of ions will be observed.
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The statistical
fluctuations in the
projected range is
called as projected
straggle (σP).

There is also statistical

fluctuation along the
axis perpendicular to
the axis of ion
incidence, called as
lateral straggle (σ | )

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N(x) or C(x) - concentration = # of atoms/cm3

Q – Dose, Atoms/cm2

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 Implanted impurity profile can be approximated by Gaussian profile:

The above equation is similar to constant dopant diffusion except

quantity 4Dt is replaced by 2 σP2 and distribution is shifted along the
x-axis by RP.

In order to find the dose (Q) expression for the Gaussian expression (ion implantation)

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If the current in the ion beam is I, then for a beam swept over an area A, the
dose is given by:

where Q is the charge on the ion and t is the implantation time

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Ion stopping: LSS Theory

There are two different mechanisms of energy loss

• Nuclear stopping is carried by a collision between two atoms, and can be described
by classical kinematics. Nuclear stopping is elastic in nature and the energy lost by the
incoming ion is transferred to the target atom, which is recoiled away from its lattice
site. This process is responsible for the production of lattice disorder and most of the
damage to the crystal structure of the target material.

• Electronic stopping is caused by interaction with the electrons of the target.

Electronic stopping is inelastic in nature and the energy lost by incident ions is
dissipated through the electron cloud into thermal vibrations of the target material.

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Nuclear stopping

Nuclear stopping, crystalline Si substrate

damaged by collision.

Incident ion interacts with nucleus of

stationary ion. b = impact parameter

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Electronic stopping

Passing ion causes internal electronic

transitions

ion velocity =>

charge separation,
drag

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Range and straggle for implants into silicon

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Junction depth

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A silicon wafer with n-type background doping is subjected to a boron
implant. The implant energy is 80 keV and the dose is 1014 cm–2. The
background doping of the wafer is 2x 1016 cm–3. Find the peak
concentration and the junction depth of the implanted layer.

RP = 0.24 um
Delta Rp = 0.063 um

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You want to do an phosphorus implant into a p-type silicon wafer
(background doping of 1016 cm–3). You choose to do the implant at 100
keV. What dose would be need to get a junction depth of 0.3 μm? What
peak concentration will result?

RP = 0.12 um
Delta Rp = 0.045 um

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A silicon wafer, 200 mm in diameter, is implanted with 100 keV boron ions to a
dose of 5 x 1015 cm-2 . Determine the projected range (Rp), projected straggle
or standard deviation ( Rp), and peak concentration (No), assuming that the
implant distribution is Gaussian. Calculate the required beam current if the
implantation time is 90 seconds.

From the figure, at 100keV, the boron projected range Rp = 0.3 um.
From the other figure, at 100keV, the boron straggle or standard
deviation is 0.07 um.

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Damage and annealing
The surface of the
semiconductor crystal at
RP plus few σP will be
heavily
damaged. Probably
becomes completely
amorphous.

Damage can be healed

by annealing. At high
temperatures, the
dislodged atoms
can “diffuse” back into the
correct lattice positions.
Annealing at 1000°C for
30 minutes is typically
enough to restore
crystallinity.
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More crystalline
damage at end of Less crystalline damage, Sn < Se
range, Sn > Se

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Damage Tree

For Boron ion

For As ion

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Annealing

Annealing repair damage and activate dopants

After implantation, we need an annealing step, usually under Ar, N2 or vacuum.

A typical 900oC, 30 min will:

Restore silicon lattice to its perfect crystalline state - silicon atoms can move back
into lattice sites at these temperatures.

Put dopants into Si substitution sites for electrical activation - nearly all of the
implanted dose becomes electrically active.

Restore the electron and hole mobility – now that the lattice becomes
perfect again.

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 Solid state epitaxy (SPE): when substrate has been rendered amorphous, the
crystallinity is repaired by SPE, where crystal reforms using the underlying
undamaged substrate as a template.

Due to the high activation energies required to annihilate defects (5eV), it is often
easier to regrow the crystal from an amorphous layer via SPE (activation energy
2.3eV in Silicon) than it is to anneal out defects. Thus, two schemes for implants are
used:
Implant above the critical dose and use low temperature anneal to regrow material.
Implant below the critical dose and use high temperature anneal to get rid of
defects.

Implant above the critical dose and use low temperature anneal to regrow
material.

Implant below the critical dose and use high temperature anneal to get rid of
defects.
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Dopant diffusion during annealing
Of course, during the anneal, dopant will diffuse. Thermal budget is T.t
We lose some of the advantages of the ion implant.

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Accounting for diffusion

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BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 Rapid thermal processing/annealing

Dopants can diffuse during high temperature anneal (activation energy 3-
4eV)
To minimize this unwanted diffusion, one can use Rapid Thermal Processing
(RTP) or Rapid Thermal Anneal (RTA).
RTA is extremely important for shallow junction devices.

Rapid heating source:

• high power laser
• high intensity halogen lamp

A high energy laser pulse is used to melt the surface and surface recrystallizes
by liquid phase epitaxy.

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BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Channeling

• Occur when ion velocity is parallel to a major crystal orientation.

• Some ions may travel considerable distances with little energy

loss.

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Phosphorus impurity
profiles for 40keV ion
implantations to silicon long “tail”
at various angles from
the <110> axis.

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110 111

100 Random tilt and rotation

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Effect of Channeling

Si Si Si Si

Si Si Si Si

Si Si Si Si

Si Si Si Si

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Methods to reduce channeling effect
Most IC implantation is done off axis.
A typical tilt angle is 7o.
A thin screen oxide which is amorphous
is often used, causing some
randomization of incident beam before
it enters the lattice.

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Destroy the lattice before implantation

1. High dose Si+ implantation to

convert the surface layer into
amorphous Si.
2. Implantation of desired dopant
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Channeling effect: critical angle

Critical Angle: defined as the maximum angle between the ion and the
channel for a collision to occur.

Where Z1 is the incident ion atomic number, Z2 is the target atom atomic
number, E is the acceleration energy in keV (voltage), and d is the
atomic spacing in the direction of the ion path in angstroms.

60
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Multiple Implants

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Masking

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99.99 %
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