Flame annealing of ion implanted silicon

The authors investigated flame annealing of ion implantation damage (consisting of amorphous layers and dislocation loops) in (100) and (111) silicon substrates. The temperature of a hydrogen flame was varied from 1050 to 12000C and the interaction time from 5 to 10 seconds. Detailed TEM results showed that a defect-free annealing of amorphous layers by solid-phase-epitaxial growth could be achieved up to a certain concentration. However, dislocation loops in the region below the amorphous layer exhibited coarsening, i.e., the average loop size increased while the number density of loops decreased. Above a critical loop density, which was found to be a function of ion implantation variables and substrate temperature, formation of 900 dislocations (a cross-grid of dislocation in (100) and a triangular grid in (111) specimens) were observed. Electrical (Van der Pauw) measurements indicated nearly a complete electrical activation of dopants with mobility comparable to pulsed laser annealed specimens. The characteristics of p-n junction diodes showed a good diode perfection factor of 1.20-1.25 and low reverse bias currents