Plasma doping: Progress and potential

Beam-line ion implantation, the pre-eminent doping method in silicon, is be ing pushed to the limit by the need to fabricate ultra-shallow junctions. P lasma doping is envisaged to be the alternative technique suited for the sh ift to simpler, more economical, higher throughput, and cluster-compatible hardware. The technology has gained much momentum in the past several years and an international plasma doping users group has been formed to bring to gether equipment manufacturers, process engineers, and researchers. In this article (part one of two parts), we will review the current status of plas ma doping, present the latest device data, and discuss process and equipmen t issues.