Fabrication of Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) and Strain-Si-on-Insulator (SSOI) Wafers Using Ion Implantation

Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices provide for increased chip speed, lower voltage operation and increased resistance to cosmic ray induced ‘soft error” events. Further device performance is achieved when Si over the insulator is strained in tensile state. Device applications for “thin”-SOI and SSOI” with Si layers less than 1000 nm, rely on ion implantation to form the SOI wafers. The most direct and economical method to form SOI or SSOI is to implant a high dose of O+ into a Si wafer and, subsequently annealed the implanted wafers with or without a SiGe layer at temperatures > 1300C. For SOI fabrication, the process is called SIMOX (Separation by IMplantation of Oxygen) whereas for SSOI applications the process is called integrated SIMOX-SGOI. Other methods to form SOI and SSOI wafers use some sort of “layer transfer” process, where high dose implants of light ions are used, either alone or in combination with other processes, to form a weakened layer which is split off from a “donor” wafer. The “donated” layer of Si or strained-Si, sometimes combined with an insulator layer, is bonded to a “handle” Si wafer, forming the final SOI or SSOI wafer. This chapter will describe these implantation methods and some of the applications of SOI and SSOI for advanced electronic and photonic devices.

By: Devendra K. Sadana, Michael I. Current

Published in: RC23337 in 2004

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