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Thin gate oxide processes for advanced semiconductor manufacturing present many challenges at both the 90 and 65 nm technology nodes. In most cases the films are oxynitride materials (SiOxNy ) constructed in single wafer tools clustered on the same common platform. The combination of discrete process chambers and the atomic dimensions of the dielectric puts a premium on film characterization and process...
This paper reviews the advances that flash lamp annealing brings to the processing of the most frequently used semiconductor materials, namely silicon and silicon carbide, thus enabling the fabrication of novel microelectronic structures and materials. The paper describes how such developments can translate into important practical applications leading to a wide range of technological benefits. Opportunities...
Not only laser annealing is an alternative to classical furnace thermal processes, but today laser thermal processing (LTP) appears very suitable for various processes of various materials of the semiconductor industry. The duration of the laser pulse heating the material to be annealed needs to be short enough to induce both nm-scale localized and metastable thermodynamic cycles (ns to mus range)...
To compensate deep penetration depth of green laser light into Si, metal absorber was formed on a specimen. TiN absorber was effective to reduce necessary laser energy density to activate dopant, however Mo worked oppositely. In addition, specimens with the absorber encountered the problem of over-melt that increased junction depth severely. Mechanisms of these results were discussed utilizing one-dimensional...
Recent development in RTP enables the expansion of synergetic influence of electron flux and non-coherent light, mainly from UV and VUV spectrum, on treated samples. This expansion is called vacuum photothermal processing (VPP). The treatment consists of a simultaneous irradiation of samples with electron flux and non-coherent light produced by a heated tungsten coil in vacuum. This paper presents...
Since the requirements for the S/D extensions for future devices become more and more severe with respect to activation and vertical abruptness, a huge effort has been done to develop ultra-fast annealing techniques such as laser annealing. Due to the fact that only the surface layers are heated, the Si wafer serves as a heat sink. Hence, extremely fast cooling rates can be obtained resulting in a...
To meet the requirements of smaller devices while still maintaining high performance, it is necessary to form shallow source/drain extensions with high activation. For 65 nm devices, reducing the "peak width" of spike annealing will enhance device performance. Two RTP tools were compared by 65 nm device performance with different residence times (1.4 s and 1.85 s). Spike anneal thermal profile...
As the conventional scaling of CMOS technology is reaching its physical limitations, new materials and processes hold promise of giving CMOS a new lease on life. In order to turn an opportunity into a reality, the semiconductor industry is confronted with a daunting task of managing and co-integrating an unprecedented confluence of innovative approaches: high-k dielectric materials (HfO2, HfSiON)...
Suppression of thermal interface degradation, especially silicidation, in high-k film (ZrO2, HfO2)/Si systems by a helium (He) process, which adds He gas during various annealing processes, was demonstrated. The high-k film/SiO2/Si thermal interface stability was investigated in terms of N2, and He gas annealing with controlled oxygen partial pressure (PO2) at 920degC. A comparison of N2 and He annealing...
Sub-50 nm junction depth p+n and n+p diodes are formed by excimer laser annealing (ELA) of BF2+ and As+ implants, respectively, performed directly in the contact windows. The latter are etched through a stack composed of a reflective Al masking layer deposited on a silicon oxide isolation layer. The etching process, the laser anneal energy and the implantation parameters are optimized for low surface...
To achieve accurate temperature measurements in rapid thermal processing (RTP), it is critical to determine the radiative properties of silicon wafers with thin-film coatings such as silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, and polysilicon. We have developed a reliable and easily accessible software tool, named Rad-Pro (for radiative properties) using Excel-VBA for prediction of the directional, spectral,...
Single wafer CVD techniques have been gaining popularity in ULSI manufacturing of advanced technologies. Primarily driven by thermal budget reduction considerations, optimization of the electrical parameters of poly-silicon films is critical to maximizing their successful incorporation into the main stream production. In this work we look at the influences of deposition parameters such as temperature,...
We present an improved in-situ calibration procedure for the reflectometer channel of an integrated radiometer/reflectometer used for emissivity independent wafer temperature measurement in semiconductor production lines in RTP and other single-wafer processes (HDP-CVD, PVD, etc.). The improved calibration procedure, which has been implemented in our NTM line of radiation thermometers, allows for...
This paper reports the study of low temperature radical oxidation by using highly concentrated ozone gas in a single-wafer rapid thermal processor. As device structures continue to shrink in geometry, integration of new materials and the complexity of process flows demand growth of high quality oxides with reduced thermal budget. This requirement poses a major challenge for thermal oxidation since...
Thin film nitridation has many applications in sub-0.13-micron line width semiconductor processing. We evaluated several single-wafer processing options capable of creating oxynitride films. Analytical results were obtained using ellipsometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and TOFSIMS. These control methods are also compared to electrical performance data. Data are also reviewed with respect...
The advent of the cable-less lightpipe radiation thermometer (CLRT) has resulted in a significant improvement in the accuracy of lightpipe radiation thermometer calibrations and measurements. CLRT systems show great promise in noncontact measurements by the elimination of the uncertainties caused by the long fiber optic cables and their connections and by the extension of the spectral range to handle...
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