Surface Oxidation Effects During Low Energy BF2+ Ion Implantation

We present results on silicon wafer surface oxidation observed during low energy high dose BF2+ implantation. Experiments were performed on single-crystal and pre-amorphized silicon wafers that help elucidate the surface structure impact on boron distribution profiles and dose retention. Implanters with different architectures were compared including both single wafer and batch systems. It was found that the oxidation rate depends on implanter type and design, and that the surface oxide thickness is a linear function of implantation dose and time. Surface oxidation is significantly higher for batch systems compared to single wafer tools. This is due primarily to the significantly lower beam duty cycle on the batch implanter. The oxide thicknesses estimated from SIMS oxygen profiles are in agreement with ellipsometry measurements after spike annealing, and show a similar difference between single wafer and batch implanters. SIMS boron distribution profiles after implantation were compared and used to calculate retained dose. In the medium dose range (≤3x1014 at/cm2) the profiles from different implanters are well matched and the dose retention is close to 100%. For the higher dose range (≥3x1015 at/cm2) retention for the batch implanter is significantly less than the single wafer tool and depends on the wafer surface structure. A higher oxidation rate results in lower dopant activation and higher Rs value after spike annealing. For high implantation doses the single wafer system allows much higher dose retention and better boron activation after annealing.