Efficient production of silicon-on-insulator films by co-implantation of He+ with H+

Abstract

We have investigated the process of thin film separation by gas ion implantation and wafer bonding, as well as the more basic phenomenon of blistering, on which the technique is based. We show that when H and He gas implants are combined they produce a synergistic effect which enables thin-film separation at a much lower total implantation dose than that required for either H or He alone. By varying the H and He implantation doses we have been able to isolate the physical and chemical contributions of the gases to the blistering processes. We find that the essential role of H is to interact chemically with the implantation damage and create H-stabilized platelet-like defects, or microvoids. The efficiency of H in this action is linked to its effective lowering of the silicon internal surface energy. The second key component of the process is physical; it consists of diffusion of gas into the microvoids and gas expansion during annealing, which drives growth and the eventual intersection of the microvoids to form two continuous separable surfaces. He is more efficient than H for this process since He does not become chemically trapped at broken bonds and thus segregates into microvoids more readily. In particular, we have demonstrated that a 1×1016 cm−2 He dose in combination with a 7.5×1015 cm−2 H dose are sufficient to shear and transfer a thin silicon film onto a handle wafer after bonding the two wafers together.

High dose proton implantations into silicon: a combined EBIC, SRP and TEM study

“…It can also be used to determine electrical properties of semiconductors like the doping type or the minority charge carrier diffusion length L D [25,27,28] as demonstrated in Fig. 1.…”

“…When the implantation dose is high enough, the implanted semiconductor can be splitted at the implantation depth [24]. The implanted hydrogen promotes the splitting process due to a chemical saturation of the dangling silicon bonds created during the implantation [25].…”

Investigation of stress-induced (100) platelet formation and surface exfoliation in plasma hydrogenated Si

“…13 This phenomenon can be explained by the intrinsic difference between ion implantation and plasma hydrogenation. In contrast to ion implantation, the energy of plasma H ions is not high enough to create significant concentrations of vacancies and interstitials, which in ion implanted samples trap H in the form of V n H m or I n H m defects.…”

H-induced subcritical crack propagation and interaction phenomena in (001) Si using He-cracks templates

“…The first two items have been quite extensively investigated. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] In the present letter we focus on the study of nanocracks interaction and coalescence processes in nanometer size scale. The experiments have been designed to allow controlled crack propagation, as a result from the incorporation of H atoms into pressurized He-filled cracks 9-11 previously introduced.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Particularly, the formation of cracks lying parallel to the surface and confined to a narrow region within the substrate has been investigated by H ͑Refs. 1-5͒ and H + He ion implantation 6,7 or by plasma hydrogenation methods. 8 Upon annealing or continuous hydrogenation, crack propagation and coalescence leads to a continuous fracture along the substrate, resulting in the separation of the material overlayer.…”