Current transport in fluorine implanted GaAs

Effects of fluorine implantation in GaAs have been investigated by electrical characterization. Ion implantation at 100 keV energy was conducted with doses of 10¹¹ and 10¹²/cm². The effect of fluorine implantation on current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of Schottky diodes was significant. Carrier compensation was observed after implantation by the improved I-V characteristics. The lower dose implanted samples showed thermionic emission dominated characteristics in the measurement temperature range of 300 to 100K. The starting wafer and the low dose implanted samples after rapid thermal annealing (RTA) showed similar I-V properties with excess current in the lower temperature range dominated by recombination. The higher dose implanted samples showed increased excess current in the whole temperature range which may result from the severe damage-induced surface recombination. These samples after RTA treatment did not recover from implantation damage as in the low dose implantation case. However, very good I-V characteristics were seen in the higher dose implanted samples after RTA. The influence of the higher dose ion implantation was to produce more thermal stability. The results show the potential application of fluorine implantation in GaAs device fabrication.     

The effects of N+ dose in implantation into 6h-sic epilayers

Ion implantation of nitrogen (N) into p-type 6H-SiC {0001} epilayers was investigated as a function of implant dose. Lattice damage induced by implantation was characterized by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and Raman scattering. The damage severely increased when the implant dose exceeds 1 x 10¹⁵ cm^-2, and amorphous layers were formed at doses higher than 4 x 10¹⁵ cm^-2. By high-temperature annealing at 1500°C, relatively high electrical activation ratios (≈50%) can be obtained in the case of low-dose implantation (<1 x 10¹⁵cm⁻²). However, the electrical activation showed sharp decrease with increasing implant dose, which may be caused by the residual damage in implanted layers.     

Electrical and optical activation studies of Si-implanted GaN

Comprehensive and systematic electrical and optical activation studies of Si-implanted GaN were made as a function of ion dose and anneal temperature. Silicon ions were implanted at 200 keV with doses ranging from 1×10¹³ cm^?2 to 5×10¹⁵ cm^?2 at room temperature. The samples were proximity-cap annealed from 1050°C to 1350°C with a 500-Å-thick AlN cap in a nitrogen environment. The optimum anneal temperature for high dose implanted samples is approximately 1350°C, exhibiting nearly 100% electrical activation efficiency. For low dose (≤5×10¹⁴ cm^?2) samples, the electrical activation efficiencies continue to increase with an anneal temperature through 1350°C. Consistent with the electrical results, the photoluminescence (PL) measurements show excellent implantation damage recovery after annealing the samples at 1350°C for 20 sec, exhibiting a sharp neutral-donor-bound exciton peak along with a sharp donor-acceptor pair peak. The mobilities increase with anneal temperature, and the highest mobility obtained is 250 cm²/Vs. The results also indicate that the AlN cap protected the implanted GaN layer during high-temperature annealing without creating significant anneal-induced damage.     

Diffusion of zinc into ion-implanted gallium arsenide

A study has been made of the diffusion of zinc, from a vapour source, into GaAs slices which had been previously implanted with various ion species. A radiotracer sectioning technique was used to measure the zinc diffusion profiles. It was found that the various implanted ion species (H⁺, He⁺, N⁺, Zn⁺, As⁺) had different effects on the zinc diffusion. The results could not be attributed solely to native defects produced by radiation damage. The heavier ion species increased the zinc concentration in the implanted region, but not beyond. The lighter species substantially increased the zinc diffusion rate and altered the resultant concentration profiles. Uphill diffusion was seen in slices which had been given a single high energy H⁺ implant. The results obtained are compared to those of Radiation-Enhanced-Diffusion experiments. It is suggested that the rate of incorporation of dopant species into the host semiconductor lattice is an important influence on the diffusion mechanism and the shape of the concentration profile.     

Electrical properties of oxygen ion-implanted InP

The effect of oxygen ion implantation on defect levels and the electrical properties of undoped InP (n-type) and Sn-doped InP have been investigated as a function of postimplant annealing at temperatures of 300 and 400° C. The surface interruption by ion bombardment was studied by a non-invasive optical technique—photoreflectance (PR) spectroscopy. Current-voltage (I-V) characterization and deep level transient spectros-copy (DLTS) were carried out. The free carrier compensation mechanism was studied from the microstructure behavior of defect levels associated with O+ implantation. Free carriers may be trapped in both residual and ion-bombardment-induced defect sites. Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) performed at different temperatures showed that if residual traps were removed by annealing, the compensation efficiency will be enhanced. Post-implant RTA treatment showed that at the higher temperature (400°C), trapped carriers may be re-excited, resulting in a weakened compensation. Comparing the results of undoped and Sn-doped InP indicated that the carrier compensation effect is substrate doping dependent.     

Dose-rate effects in silicon-implanted gallium arsenide from low to high doses

For implantation of silicon dopant into gallium arsenide, sheet resistance and damage increase as the ion dose rate increases in the high-dose regime (>5.0 × 10¹³ cm⁻²). But, in the low-dose regime (<5.0 × 10¹² cm⁻²), although damage still increases with dose rate, the sheet resistance decreases. This qualitative difference implies that there must be a crossover point between the low- and high-dose regimes in the effect of damage and defect formation on dopant activation. This paper describes experiments in which damage and silicon dose were independently varied through the crossover point. Thermal wave, ion channeling, Hall effect measurements, and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize structural and electrical changes that occur near the crossover. In GaAs implanted with silicon (²⁹Si⁺) at doses between 3 × 10¹² and 6 × 10¹³cm⁻², it is shown that electrical activation for low dose rates first begins to exceed that for high dose rates at a dose of 2 × 10¹³ cm⁻². Rapid growth of Type I dislocations also begins near this same dose, suggesting that there may be a link between defect formation and the crossover to negative dose-rate effects in the high-dose regime.     

Rapid Thermal annealing of si implanted GaAs

Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) with incoherent light from tungsten lamps shows high potential relative to the conventional furnace annealing (FA) to activate the implanted dopant. Due to the short time annealing, it could completely eliminate the re-diffusion of dopant and host atom. For the Si implantation with dose of 2 × 10¹⁴ cm², the electrical activity of 78% for RTA was higher than that of the FA. But for this short time, some defects measured by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) were hard to remove. A two-step annealing was suggested by the combination of high temperature RTA (1000° C) and FA (700° C). After the post-FA, the defects would be removed to a great extent, and the electrical activity of dopant also increased. With the dose of 2 x 1013 cm^-2, the activity attained after the two step annealing was 92.5%, which may be the highest value according to our knowledge for rapid thermal annealing on Si ion implanted GaAs.     

Characteristics and uniformity of group V implanted and annealed HgCdTe heterostructure

This work presents characterization of implanted and annealed double layer planar heterostructure HgCdTe for p-on-n photovoltaic devices. Our observation is that compositional redistribution in the structure during implantation/ annealing process differs from that expected from classical composition gradient driven interdiffusion and impacts the placement of the electrical junction with respect to the metallurgical heterointerface, which in turn affects quantum efficiency and R_oA. The observed anomalous interdiffusion results in much wider cap layers with reduced composition difference between base and cap layer composition. The compositional redistribution can, however, be controlled by varying the material structure parameters and the implant/anneal conditions. Examples are presented for dose and implanted species variation. A model is proposed based on the fast diffusion in the irradiation induced damage region of the ion implantation. In addition, we demonstrate spatial uniformity obtained on molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) material of the compositional and implanted species profile. This reflects spatial uniformity of the ion implantation/annealing Processes and of the MBE material characteristics.     

Transient-enhanced diffusion in shallow-junction formation

Shallow junctions are formed in crystalline Si by low-energy ion implantation of B⁺, P⁺, or As⁺ species accompanied by electrical activation of dopants by rapid thermal annealing and the special case of spike annealing. Diffusion depths were determined by secondary ion-mass spectroscopy (SIMS). Electrical activation was characterized by sheet resistance, Hall coefficient, and reverse-bias diode-leakage measurements. The B⁺ and P⁺ species exhibit transient-enhanced diffusion (TED) caused by transient excess populations of Si interstitials. The electrically activated fraction of implanted dopants depends mainly on the temperature for B⁺ species, while for P⁺ species, it depends on both temperature and P⁺ dose. The relatively small amount of diffusion associated with As⁺ implants is favorable for shallow-junction formation with spike annealing.     

Electrical and cathodoluminescence measurements on ion implanted donor layers in GaAs

GaAs has been doped by the ion implantation of silicon, sulphur, selenium and tin. After annealing at 700°C, the layers were n-type in all cases but with the heavier ions, selenium and tin, it was necessary to implant above room temperature. Van der Pauw measurements showed that for all the impurities the surface concentration of free electrons as a function of ion dose reached a maximum of approximately 10¹³ electron/cm² with an average Hall mobility of 2000 cm²/V sec. The spatial distributions of active donors were obtained from both differential Hall measurements and capacitance measurements on reverse biased Schottky barriers. The maximum carrier density measured was 10¹⁸/cm³ at the peak of the distribution of tin ions implanted at 200°C. With selenium and tin implants the concentration and mobility of free electrons and the depth of the donor distribution were dose dependent. The cathodoluminescence spectra from implanted layers were dominated by broad low energy bands due to recombination at defects. A V_Ga-Si complex was thought to be responsible for one of the most intense bands at 1·18 eV. The results indicate that under certain conditions both defects and impurities migrate into the substrate.     

Optical and electrical properties of AlGaN films implanted with Mn,Co, or Cr

The electrical and optical properties of undoped n-AlGaN films with Al mole fraction close to x=0.4 were studied before and after implantation of 3×10¹⁶ cm⁻² 250-keV Mn, Co, and Cr ions. The electrical properties of the virgin samples are shown to be dominated by deep donors with the level near E_c-0.25 eV and concentration of about 2×10¹⁸ cm⁻³. The microcathodoluminescence (MCL) spectra of the virgin samples were dominated by two strong defect bands at 2.5 eV and 3.7 eV. After implantation, the resistivity of the implanted films increased but could not be accurately measured because of the shunting influence of the unimplanted portions of the films. Their resistivity was increased by more than an order of magnitude compared to the virgin samples because of the compensation by defects coming from the implanted layer during the post-implantation annealing. The absorption and luminescence spectra of the implanted samples were dominated by two strong bands near 2 eV and 3.5 eV. The latter are attributed to the electron transitions from the Mn, Co, or Cr acceptors to the conduction band.     

Electrical and optical characterization studies of lower dose Si-implanted AlxGa1−xN

Electrical and optical activation studies of lower dose Si-implanted Al_xGa_1?xN (x=0.14 and 0.24) have been made systematically as a function of ion dose and anneal temperature. Silicon ions were implanted at 200 keV with doses ranging from 1×10¹³ cm^?2 to 1×10¹⁴ cm^?2 at room temperature. The samples were proximity cap annealed from 1,100°C to 1,350°C with a 500-Å-thick AlN cap in a nitrogen environment. Nearly 100% electrical activation efficiency was obtained for Al_0.24Ga_0.76N implanted with a dose of 1 × 10¹⁴ cm^?2 after annealing at an optimum temperature around 1,300°C, whereas for lower dose (≤5×10¹³ cm^?2) implanted Al_0.24Ga_0.76N samples, the electrical activation efficiencies continue to increase with anneal temperature up through 1,350°C. Seventy-six percent electrical activation efficiency was obtained for Al_0.14Ga_0.86N implanted with a dose of 1 × 10¹⁴ cm^?2 at an optimum anneal temperature of around 1,250°C. The highest mobilities obtained were 89 cm²/Vs and 76 cm²/Vs for the Al_0.14Ga_0.86N and Al_0.24Ga_0.76N, respectively. Consistent with the electrical results, the photoluminescence (PL) intensity of the donor-bound exciton peak increases as the anneal temperature increases from 1,100°C to 1,250°C, indicating an increased implantation damage recovery with anneal temperature.     

The effect of implant temperature on the electrical characteristics of ion implanted indium phosphide

The sample temperature during ion implantation in InP has a pronounced effect on the electrical characteristics of the resulting layers. For the heavy ions, Se (donor) and Cd (acceptor) implant temperatures ≥ 150°C are necessary to minimize n-type residual damage and to achieve maximum activation of the implanted ions. Results for the intermediate mass n-type impurity Si are similar to those for the heavy ions, whereas for the intermediate mass acceptor Mg the implant temperature effects appear to be strongly dose dependent. With the light acceptor ion Be, room temperature implants are as good as or better than those done at elevated temperatures. Results for the light ion C yield n-type layers with very low electrical activation. Higher activation is generally achieved with n-type than with p-type impurities and electron concentrations in excess of 10¹⁹ cm^?3 are readily attainable.     

The behaviour of boron molecular ion implants into silicon

Implants of boron molecular ions into silicon have been studied using a variety of experimental techniques, but with emphasis on sheet resistance annealing characteristics and transmission electron microscopy. Boron halide compound molecules have been implanted and equivalent dose sequential implants of atomic species used as control conditions. The implants studied were B⁺, BCl₂⁺, BCl⁺, Cl⁺ + B⁺, BF₂⁺, BF⁺ and B⁺ + F⁺ at 25 keV/B atom and B⁺, BBr₂⁺ and Br₂⁺ + B⁺ at 12 keV/B atom.The implantation of molecular ions enables conditions of varying damage to be studied with constant dose, dose rate and energy of the dopant species. In addition to damage effects the halogen atoms produce species effects in the implanted zone. The escape of the halogen atoms has been measured as a function of the annealing temperature.The significant differences which exist between the behaviour of silicon implanted with these various conditions are considered with reference to the damage structures observed by transmission electron microscopy. The boron-fluorine molecular implants are shown to offer some advantages as a means of implanting boron.     

Deep trapping of implanted Na+ and Li+ ions near the Si/SiO2 interface in metal-oxide-silicon structures

Na⁺ and Li⁺ ions have been implanted in the oxide layer of MOS structures with doses ranging from 3 × 10¹¹ to 3 × 10¹³ ions/cm². Part of the implanted ions can be retraced as mobile ions: this fraction decreased with increasing dose. The trapping of the mobile ions near the Si/SiO₂ interface has been investigated by means of the thermally stimulated ionic current (TSIC) technique. The average energy depth of the ionic traps appeared to increase with increasing dose. Moreover, we found that Li⁺ ions are trapped deeper than Na⁺ ions under equivalent experimental conditions. The influence of the applied electric field on the detrapping has been studied. In the case of 3 × 10¹³ Na⁺ implantation, the barrier lowering corresponds with the Poole-Frenkel theory. We have also paid attention to the effects of bias-temperature stress treatments on the trapping kinetics. We observed a decrease of the mobile ion current after long BTS treatments.     

MOS capacitors obtained by wet oxidation of n-type 4H-SiC pre-implanted with nitrogen

The manufacture process and the electrical characterization of MOS devices fabricated by wet oxidation of N⁺ implanted n-type 4H-SiC are here presented. Different implantation fluence and energy values were used with the aims to study the effect of the N concentration both at the SiO₂/SiC interface and within the SiO₂ film. High doses, able to amorphise a surface SiC layer to take advantage of the faster oxidation rate of amorphous with respect to crystalline SiC, were also evaluated. The electrical quality of the SiO₂/SiC system was characterized by capacitance-voltage measurements of MOS capacitors. The analyses of the collected data show that only the implanted N which is located at the oxide-SiC interfaces is effective to reduce the interface states density. On the contrary, the interface states density remains high (the same of an un-implanted reference sample) when the implanted N is completely embedded in the region consumed by the oxidation. Furthermore, none generation of fixed positive charges in the oxide was found as a consequence of the different N concentrations enclosed in the oxide films. These results were independent of the amorphisation of the implanted layer by the N⁺ ions. Our results demonstrate that by using a suitable N ion implantation and an appropriate wet oxidation treatment, it is possible to obtain a reduced thermal budget process able to decrease the interface state density near the conduction band edge. The proposed approach should be interesting for the development of the MOSFET technology on SiC.     

Ion implantation damage in GaAs: A TEM study of the variation with ion species and stoichiometry

GaAs samples have been implanted with a dose of 2 × 10¹⁴ cm^?2 of each ion in the following combinations: Ga, As, Ga + As, Se, Ga + Se and As + Se. Implantation was at 200°C, and post implantation annealing at 700°C. Subsequent examination by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed clear and reproducible differences in the dislocation loop size and density, depending on the ion species implanted. The simplest results were obtained with the single implants, particularly Ga and As. These observed variations could be explained in terms of point defect populations, and hence rates of annealing at a given anneal temperature, being affected significantly by the stoichiometric effect of the implant. These simpler aspects were also seen to be incorporated in the more complex “dual” implants.     

Evaluation of arsenic implanted layers by means of MOS memory characteristics

Heavily arsenic implanted silicon layers are evaluated by measuring the “refreshtime” of dynamic type MOS memories. The dose range used for the fabrication is around 1.5×10¹⁶ cm^?2 due to the sheet resistivity and junction depth requirements. The electrical characteristics are highly satisfactory from the refreshtime viewpoint although these conditions have been reported to generate dislocation loops in the implanted layer. The mean refreshtime is 150 msec at 75°C, which shows that generation-recombination center concentration is of the order of 10¹¹ cm^?3. These results indicate that arsenic ion implantation technology is adaptable to highly packed MOS LSls.     

Optically induced charge storage in ion implanted SiO2

Charge storage in MOS structures with an ion implanted oxide layer has been investigated. The electrons generated by internal photoemission are captured in SiO₂ traps which are created by the implantation of Kr⁺ and N⁺ ions at energies of 50–290 keV and a fluence up to 10¹⁴ cm^?2. The charge storage results in a voltage shift of the high frequency C-V-curve. The dependence of electron storage on exposure time has been measured and compared with approximative calculations. The discharge of traps occurs by heating treatment and hints at the existence of deep oxide traps combined with structural lattice defects.     

Effects of oxygen on crystallization of amorphous silicon films and polysilicon TFT characteristics

Oxygen ions were implanted into the amorphous silicon film deposited at 540°C in order to study the effects of oxygen on the solid phase crystallization of silicon films. The resulting films were investigated using transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction (XRD), and also by measuring the electrical characteristics of polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors (TFTs) fabricated in the crystallized films. The development of {111} texture as a function of annealing time is similar to films implanted with Si, with higher oxygen samples showing more texture. Transmission electron microscopy shows that the grain size of completely crystallized films varies little with oxygen concentration. The electrical performances of TFTs are found to degrade with increasing oxygen dose. The trap state density increases from 5.6 × 10¹²/cm² to 9.5 × 10¹²/cm² with increasing oxygen dose. It is concluded that for a high performance TFT, oxygen incorporation in the Si film should be kept to 10¹⁹/cm³ or less.