Properties of Silicon-on-Defect-Layer Material

Abstract

A new silicon material, silicon-on-defect-layer (SODL), has been measured by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and spreading resistivity (SR) measurements. SIMS data show that the buried defect-layer in SODL consists of silicon oxide due to the gettering of intrinsic oxygen by proton-implanted damage. Furthermore, SODL procedure makes a silicon wafer contain much fewer oxygen in surface-layer on the defect-layer, resulting in a purfied surface-layer. Measurements of SR indicate that the surface-layer of n-type silicon wafer was converted to p-type silicon after SODL procedure. A metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) device with a value of the electron mobility in the inversion mode of 714 cm2/(V s) was fabricated on SODL material. Like isolation function of a well in a complementary MOS (CMOS) device, the p-n junction in SODL material could play a role of isolation between the surface-layer and bulk. In addition, by reducing the implantation energy, SODL technology for making p-n junction, in which built-in field separates light-generated electrons and holes, is a candidate to make cheap solar cells by using low-quality low-cost silicon.

The new exploration for proton-implanted silicon: the conversion of a surface-region-purification-induced p-n junction into a p-i-n electrical structure approaching silicon on insulator

“…The published SODL results [1,5,10] are helpful for the further exploration and exploitation of the SODL junction. In this work, the origin of the SODL junction was investigated by carrying out various annealing conditions and subsequent measurements on electrical properties, which is one aim of this work.…”

“…It is well known that a p-n junction is a vital component of almost every semiconductor device. Several years ago, a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) work [1] between Brookhaven National Laboratory and Plasma Physics Corporation illustrated that an Si-on-defectlayer (SODL) technique [2][3][4][5] causes a puzzle of an exceptional p-n junction at a stable buried defect layer (DL). In addition, the exceptional p-n junction also has been obtained previously in samples implanted with other non-dopant ions (e.g.…”

“…inert gas ions) by a number of groups [6][7][8][9]. The exceptional p-n junction (the socalled SODL junction) has been proved to comprise a noncrystal silicon oxide (SiO x ) component [1] in the DL. The structure of the SODL junction has been viewed in detail [5].…”

“…The oxygen and carbon concentrations in the wafers were 8.5 × 10 17 cm −3 and 1.9 × 10 16 cm −3 , respectively (old ASTM). The Si wafers used in this work and in the work of [1] came from one Si ingot, leading to same wafer background in both works. Following the SODL procedure described in [1], protons were implanted into the wafers with a dose of 3 × 10 16 H + cm −2 at an energy of 180 keV.…”

“…The Si wafers used in this work and in the work of [1] came from one Si ingot, leading to same wafer background in both works. Following the SODL procedure described in [1], protons were implanted into the wafers with a dose of 3 × 10 16 H + cm −2 at an energy of 180 keV. Two sets of annealing processes in flowing N 2 were carried out in this work.…”