Preparation of shallow n+-layers in Ge using flash lamp annealing

Although the first transistor was made on germanium, most integrated circuits are fabricated using silicon substrates. The main reasons for the change from Ge to Si are the excellent physical properties of the SiO2/Si interface. Today SiO2 is more and more replaced by high-k dielectrics. This fact and the advantage of the higher carrier mobility in Ge compared to Si have led to a renewed interest in Ge as material in future CMOS applications. Previous investigations on the formation of ultra shallow junctions by ion beam processing have shown that p+-doping using B implantation yields junctions that meet the requirements for the 22 nm technology node, whereas the formation of n+-junctions by P or As is complicated by the high diffusivity and the low solubility of the dopants.
The present work deals with the application of millisecond flash lamp annealing (FLA) to samples containing an implanted surface layer of about 100 nm thickness. The layers were formed using P ions with an energy of 30 keV and a fluence of 3x1015 cm-2. The investigations are focused on solid phase recrystallization, dopant redistribution and dopant activation. The dependence of these effects on the heat transfer to the sample during FLA as well as on pre-amorphization and pre-annealing treatment is discussed. The results are compared to typical data achievable by conventional rapid thermal annealing (RTA) with durations of some seconds. Different characterization methods are employed. Channeling Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) are used to monitor the recrystallization of the amorphous layers formed during implantation. The depth distributions of P are measured by secondary ion mass spectrometry. In order to determine the sheet resistance variable probe spacing and micro four point probe measurements are utilized. Selected samples are studied by XTEM to search for precipitates and end-of-range defects. While in RTA the concentration dependent dopant diffusion hinders the formation of shallow n+ layers, FLA does not cause any diffusion but leads to dopant activation up to about 5x1019 cm-3.