Annealing of Boron-Implanted Silicon by a Heat-Assisted Noncoherent Light Flash

High quality annealing of boron implanted silicon 10 to the 15th power/sq cm, 50 keV) was achieved using commercially available quartz xenon flash tubes after a 20 second preheat. Electrically active dopant profiles, obtained from spreading resistance profiles, indicate that the annealing proceeded by solid phase epitaxy. We also find that the degree of boron redistribution can be controlled by the cumulative exposure to the flash. Characteristics of the apparatus used suggest that annealing 3 inch diameter wafers with a throughput of 3 wafers per minute is feasible. (Author)