Papers by Keyword: Pattern Effects

Abstract: Various types of conduction-based RTP systems are discussed. It is shown that simple hot plate systems suffer from severe bow of the wafer, when placed directly on the susceptor. This results in non-uniform heating. A solution is to place the wafer on pins; however, this considerably reduces the heat-up rate. An effective way to heat wafers through conduction fast and wellcontrolled is by placing it in a so-called gas bearing, an arrangement in which the wafer floats in between two hot blocks, at a well-controlled, small distance from both blocks. The heat-up rate in this so-called Levitor system is very high (~900°C/s) and uniform. It is demonstrated that this conduction-based system does not suffer from non-uniformities caused by variations in emissivity and/or pattern density across-wafer or within-die. In a direct comparison on pattern-dependent heating effects, substrates with trenches with varying dimensions are spike-annealed in a state-ofthe- art lamp system and in the Levitor. It was shown that temperature non-uniformities in the lampbased and the conduction-based systems are > 40°C and < 1°C, respectively. The conclusion is that the Levitor provides emissivity and pattern-independent heating.

Abstract: Radiant energy sources enable rapid and controllable thermal processing of wafers with closed-loop control of wafer temperature. However the use of energy sources that are not in thermal equilibrium with the wafers makes the heating process sensitive to the optical properties of the wafers. In particular, patterns on wafer surfaces can cause temperature non-uniformity at length scales where lateral thermal conduction cannot smooth out the effect. Such “pattern effects” are even more significant for advanced processing techniques like millisecond annealing and pulsed laser annealing, because of the extremely large heating powers employed. The issue of pattern effects was recognized early on in the development of radiant heating technology, but has recently become a critical issue for process control. Despite the challenges, many counter-measures can be deployed to minimize pattern effects, including modifications to the wafer design, changes in processing recipe and equipment configuration. Such solutions have enabled the use of radiant heating for even the most demanding device fabrication applications.

Abstract: The continuous scaling of electron devices places strong demands on device design and simulation. The currently prevailing bulk transistors as well as future designs based on thin silicon layers all require a tight control of the dopant distribution. For process simulation, especially the correct prediction of boron diffusion and activation was always a problem. The paper describes the model developed for boron implanted into crystalline silicon and shows applications to hot-shield annealing and flash-assisted rapid thermal processing.