Suppression of boron deactivation and diffusion in preamorphized silicon after nonmelt laser annealing by carbon co-implantation

Abstract

For preamorphized boron-implanted samples subjected to nonmelt laser spike annealing (LSA), increasing the LSA temperature at temperatures below 1250 °C results in negligible sheet resistance changes due to the formation of inactive boron-interstitial clusters (BICs). These clusters, which are evidenced as a kink in the boron profile beyond the amorphous/crystalline interface, result chiefly from the inadequate removal of end-of-range (EOR) defects. When the LSA temperature is elevated beyond 1250 °C, sheet resistance improvement takes place due to the increase in active boron dose from the dissolution of the BIC at higher temperatures. Cluster dissolution also gives rise to a supersaturation of silicon interstitials that deepen the junctions as a result of transient enhanced diffusion (TED). With an additional post-LSA treatment, severe deactivation, especially at lower LSA temperatures, and further TED is observed. Two concurrent mechanisms, namely, boron clustering (which gives rise to deactivation and sheet resistance degradation) and dissolution of the BIC (which gives rise to TED) formed during the LSA step, are believed to take place during the post-LSA thermal budget. As the LSA temperature increases, TED from the as-LSA profile upon rapid thermal annealing (RTA) is significantly reduced as a result of the improved effectiveness of the EOR defect dissolution during the higher temperature LSA step. When carbon co-implantation is performed, deactivation and TED is successfully suppressed with the reduction in free silicon interstitial concentration due to the formation of complexes of carbon and silicon interstitials. The amount of deactivation upon RTA becomes independent of LSA temperature for the carbon-implanted samples, largely because boron clustering becomes limited by the small concentration of free silicon interstitials present instead of the LSA temperatures used.