Millisecond microwave annealing: Driving microelectronics nano

The efficient deposition of high frequency microwave energy into the top several microns of a semiconducting material was experimentally demonstrated as a highly effective mechanism for rapid thermal annealing. Simulations show that absorbed power densities of 4 and 32 kW ∕ cm 2 produce average Si heating rates of 325 000 and 10 000 000 ° C ∕ s up to 1300 ° C . Conduction of thermal energy from the absorption region into the bulk substrate yields peak cooling rates that exceed 1 000 000 ° C ∕ s after the microwave pulse subsides. At the peak temperature, thermal gradients of 5 and 20 ° C ∕ μ m exist for the aforementioned power densities of 4 and 32 kW ∕ cm 2 . The application of a 4.5 ms , 6 kW ∕ cm 2 pulse of 110 GHz radiation resulted in an experimentally measured Si heating rate of 275 000 ° C ∕ s . Applying this millisecond microwave anneal technology to ultrarapid annealing for shallow implanted dopants resulted in ultrashallow junctions that were 14 – 16 nm deep with sheet resistances between 500 and 700 Ω ∕ square and an estimated active dopant concentration of 10 20 ∕ cm 3 – 2 × 10 20 ∕ cm 3 .