Numerical simulation of plasma implanted nitrogen depth profiles in iron

Plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) is a relatively complex process. Utilizing plasma and TRIM simulation, plasma implanted nitrogen depth profiles in iron are simulated in this work. Many factors such as the high voltage pulse rise time, voltage amplitude, pulse duration, plasma composition, etc. have a critical influence on this depth profiles. Our results confirm the broader distribution as well as shift of the implant peak toward the surface. Compared to the pulse duration and plasma composition, the rise time of the high voltage pulse has a more predominant effect on the shape of the profile. At higher implantation voltage, the nitrogen profile resembles that of multiple energy implantation in the beam-line mode. From this perspective, broadening of the ion energy spectrum in PIII is favorable since a single process can achieve the results of multiple energy ion implantation. This is particularly useful for processes such as shallow junction formation in microelectronics