RAPID THERMAL-PROCESSING - FIXING PROBLEMS WITH THE CONCEPT OF THERMAL BUDGET

Until now, kinetic Effects in rapid thermal processing have been asses sed using the concept of thermal budget, with the idea that thermal bu dget minimization should minimize dopant diffusion and interface degra dation. This work highlights shortcomings with that principle. Experim ents directly comparing the rate of Si chemical vapor deposition with that of dopant diffusion show how thermal budget minimization can actu ally worsen diffusion problems rather than mitigate them. We present a straightforward framework for improving the results through compariso n of activation energies of the desired and undesired phenomena. This framework explains all the experimental results and provides strong ki netic arguments for continued development of rapid isothermal processi ng and small batch fast ramp methods.