Method of thermal processing structures formed on a substrate
First Claim
1. An apparatus for thermally processing a semiconductor substrate, comprising:
- a substrate support comprising a heat exchanging device;
a first intense light source positioned to deliver a first amount of annealing energy to an anneal region;
a second intense light source positioned to deliver a second amount of annealing energy to the anneal region;
a first controller coupled to the heat exchange device; and
a second controller coupled to the first controller, the first intense light source, and the second intense light source.
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Abstract
Methods used to perform an annealing process on desired regions of a substrate are disclosed. In one embodiment, an amount of energy is delivered to the surface of the substrate to preferentially melt certain desired regions of the substrate to remove unwanted damage created from prior processing steps (e.g., crystal damage from implant processes), more evenly distribute dopants in various regions of the substrate, and/or activate various regions of the substrate. The preferential melting processes will allow more uniform distribution of the dopants in the melted region, due to the increased diffusion rate and solubility of the dopant atoms in the molten region of the substrate. The creation of a melted region thus allows: 1) the dopant atoms to redistribute more uniformly, 2) defects created in prior processing steps to be removed, and 3) regions that have hyper-abrupt dopant concentrations to be formed.
117 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus for thermally processing a semiconductor substrate, comprising:
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a substrate support comprising a heat exchanging device; a first intense light source positioned to deliver a first amount of annealing energy to an anneal region; a second intense light source positioned to deliver a second amount of annealing energy to the anneal region; a first controller coupled to the heat exchange device; and a second controller coupled to the first controller, the first intense light source, and the second intense light source. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus for thermally processing a semiconductor substrate, comprising:
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a substrate support comprising a heat exchanging device; a first intense light source positioned to deliver a first amount of annealing energy to an anneal region; a second intense light source positioned to deliver a second amount of annealing energy, combined with the first amount of anneal energy, to the anneal region; a first controller coupled to the heat exchange device; a second controller coupled to the first controller, the first intense light source, and the second intense light source to control combination of the first amount of anneal energy and the second amount of anneal energy; and one or more microlenses disposed between the first and second intense light sources and the substrate support. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus for thermally processing a semiconductor substrate, comprising:
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a first pulsed laser and a second pulse laser positioned to produce a combined pulse; one or more microlenses positioned to receive the combined pulse; a substrate support comprising a heat exchanging device; a first controller coupled to the heat exchange device; and a second controller coupled to the first controller, the first pulsed laser, and the second pulsed laser. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An apparatus for thermally processing a semiconductor substrate, comprising:
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a substrate support; a first intense light source positioned to deliver a first amount of annealing energy to an anneal region; a second intense light source positioned to deliver a second amount of annealing energy to the anneal region; and a controller that is adapted to monitor the first amount and second amount of annealing energies delivered to the anneal region and independently control the magnitude and the time of delivery of the first amount and second amount of annealing energies based on a temperature of the anneal region, wherein the first and second intense light sources are configured to deliver multiple pulses of electromagnetic radiation that are linearly polarized. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification