SBIR Phase II: Novel Hybrid Rapid Thermal Processing (HRTP) Systems for Annealing of Advanced Silicon Devices

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project focuses on development of a novel high-temperature system for processing of advanced silicon devices. Currently used rapid thermal processing (RTP) systems result in substantial dopant profile broadening because of their relatively large time constants. The development of a novel Hybrid Rapid Thermal Process (HRTP) system which combines the advantages of RTP and laser annealing will be accomplished through this project. The advantages of HRTP anneals was demonstrated in the Phase I of the project. In the Phase II project extensive thermal simulation studies will be performed to understand, optimize and scale up the process. Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) systems are a critical part of semiconductor manufacturing operations and are used to form gate oxides, silicides and annealed ion implanted dopants for formation of ultra-shallow junctions. The market-size for these applications exceeds $500 M/year. With the rapid miniaturization of the devices, there is a strong need to develop higher ramp rate and higher temperature annealing systems to achieve the formation of ultra-shallow junctions. The proposed HRTP system is expected to fill this niche. The HRTP system can also be usedin thermal annealing of wide band gap semiconductors such as GaN and SiC as they require extremely high temperature, which cannot be achieved by traditional systems.