IMPACT OF ULTRAVIOLET-LIGHT DURING RAPID THERMAL-DIFFUSION

Rapid thermal processing for junction formation is emerging as a low c ost technique for solar cell as well as for other semiconductor device production. Compared to conventional furnace processing, process diff erences are not only in very high heating and cooling rates, but also in the incoherent emitted radiation spectrum, which can act on dopant diffusion. The photons emitted from tungsten halogen lamps go from far ultraviolet, over visible to infrared light. In this work additional mercury ultraviolet lamps are used during rapid thermal annealing to a nalyze the influence of high energetic photons on diffusion mechanisms . The diffusion results are discussed in terms of radiation spectrum, involving analysis of diffusion profiles and sheet resistances. (C) 19 98 American Institute of Physics.