P-GILD In Situ Monitor

Projection Gas Immersion Laser Doping (P-GILD) is an innovative technique which merges lithography and doping into a single step process. The result of the merger is a spatially selective process that reduces the process steps required for doping by an order of magnitude. The new process is capable of producing junctions as shallow as 300A" and retrograde profiles having peak to surface doping ratios greater than 10 at depths up to 4000Ao. The technique employs a high power pulsed UV laser to illuminate a dielectric reticle which is imaged onto a wafer in a sealed cell containing a dopant gas at low pressure. The very shallow penetration of the laser light into the silicon surface localizes the heating and results in an extremely low thermal budget that facilitates the use of glass substrates or the construction of multilayer (stacked) circuitry. Good process repeatability requires the development of accurate in situ monitors that directly measure dose and junction depth. We propose to survey candidate monitoring techniques, to determine how the most promising might be implemented, to analytically determine the resulting detection limits and suggest a series of phase II experiments to verify the selected approaches. This will expedite the development of a real time, process controlled, P-GILD technology. Anticipated Benefits/Potential Applications - This program will develop new fabrication tools that will: 1. Reduce cost of fabrication facilities for semiconductor devices and integrated circuits. 2. Produce smaller junction dimensions in semiconductor devices and integrated circuits.