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SURFACE ENGINEERING IN ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY

SEMICONDUCTOR DOPING

Akshay Makhija
Dhrumil Prajapati
Harshul Patel
Ratandeep Pandey
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Introduction
Semiconductor plays key role in the applications in area
of thermostat, diodes, transistors etc.
The gradient of concentration of a dopant in a substrate
provides different properties like variable conductivity,
light emission etc.
Most popular material used in substrate are silicon and
germanium.

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Type of semiconductors
Two kind of semiconductors: Intrinsic semiconductor- Intrinsic semiconductor is pure.
It has poor electric conduction.
Extrinsic semiconductor- Extrinsic semiconductor is also
known as impurity semiconduc
a. It is lightly or moderately doped and it has great capacity
of electric conduction.
b. A semiconductor doped to high levels such as it acts like
conductor called degenerate.
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Impurity semiconductor is classified in two types

N-type
P-type

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 For N-type semiconductor , impurities are chosen from range of

pentads, mostly phosphorus
For P-type semiconductors , the selected impurities should be trivalent
elements, mostly boron
The following table shows the various materials used in
semiconductor industry

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Techniques of Semiconductor Doping

There are numerous techniques being followed in the
industry for doping, most widely used techniques are
Ion implantation
Diffusion
Oxidation
We are going to focus on two major techniques:Diffusion and Ion implantation

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Diffusion
What is Diffusion?

The movement of impurity atoms (dopant) at high temperature into a

semiconductor material due to concentration gradient is known as
diffusion.
Diffusion of impurities in the silicon lattice takes place at
temperatures in the range of 900-1100o C.

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There are two major ways in which diffusion

doping process can be carried out:
Predeposition: The impurities diffuse into the parent material with a
constant concentration gradient.
Drive-in: A layer of the dopant is deposited on the surface. In this
case, the impurity gradient at the surface of the substrate decreases
with time.
Pre-deposition

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Drive-In

Diffusion at Microscopic Level

Substitution diffusion

Interstitial Diffusion

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Diffusion Process Parameters

Temperature
Type of impurity
Diffusion time
Defects in silicon crystal

Advantages:

No damage to surface
Batch fabrication is possible
An isotropic process
Cost associated with process is
low
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Disadvantages: Low Dose doping is difficult to

carry out
Shallow junctions are difficult to
fabricate
Cant be carried out at room
temperature

Ion implantation

What is ion implantation?

Ions of the desired dopant are first accelerated using
an electric field resulting in formation of a beam of
ions. The beam is then projected upon the parent
lattice material causing a bombardment of the ions
on the substrate resulting in a uniform deposition of
dopant on the parent lattice.

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The Process
In order to form a beam of ions, the first step is to
generate ions.
The dopants are heated on a hot filament causing
generation of ions.
The ions generated are accelerated away from the
source by electric field.
The ions then pass through a magnetic field which
diverts the ions and separates them according to their
size or according to the requirement using a
predesigned aperture.
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The separated ions are brought to the desired energy by accelerating them
again using an electric field and are bombarded on the substrate after passing
through a focusing lens.
The focused accelerated ions strike the substrate and get implanted in the area
exposed to the beam.

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Parameters Effecting Ion Implantation Process: The energy of the incoming impurity
Intensity
Project range

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Advantages:-

Disadvantages:-

It is a low temperature process

and fast process.
The dose of ion can be
controlled
Precise depth control possible
It can be used to implant ions
through thin layers of oxide
The method can be used to
obtain extremely low as well
as extremely high dope.

It causes physical damage to

the surface
Annealing is required to
relive the stresses and remove
physical damage to the
material
Amorphous regions are
formed in the crystal lattice
Channeling occurs, causing
irregular distribution of ions.
It is expensive and one of the
most hazardous process.

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Comparative study:Parameter:

Diffusion

Ion Implantation

It is relatively cheaper

It is expensive

Possible

Not Possible

Reproducibility:

Not Possible

Possible

Very High
Concentration Doping:

Not Possible

Possible

Cost:
Batch Formation:

Temperature:

It is a high temperature
process (900-10000C)

It is relatively a low temperature process

Process Type:

It is a natural process

It is a forced process

Driving Force:

Concentration Difference

Electric Field (acceleration)

Not Possible

Possible

Doping Concentration:

Cannot be controlled

Can be controlled precisely

Doping Depth:

Cannot be controlled

Can be controlled easily

Parent Material
Surface:

Doesnt undergo any damage

Shallow Junction:

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Directional:

Post doping process:

Damage in form of distortion may

occur

Isotropic Process

Anisotropic Process

No Annealing is required

Annealing is required

Conclusion: The driving force in the diffusion process is the difference

between the concentrations of the materials involved, is carried
out at high temperature. It is a non-destructive process and
causes no damage to the material surface. Batch formation is
possible with diffusion process, increasing the overall output
The Ion Implantation process offers better doping concentration
control, precise junction depth control, and easy reproducibility
and doesnt require high temperature for being carried out. The
ion implanted product has to undergo annealing process to repair
the damage which makes this process relatively expensive.

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Gas Immersion Laser Doping (GILD):

Thin Silicon wafer is immersed in Boron gas while a pulsed laser
repeatedly melts and cools the wafer.
The Boron atoms in the gas diffuse into the molten parts of the Silicon
and stay there when the Silicon solidifies.
GILD producing a P-type Silicon wafer with Boron impurities.

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 GILD process could be an alternative to ion implantation as it uses

rapid annealing for making ultra-shallow junctions.
Advantages:
1. GILD process can be used for large scale manufacturing and low
cost manufacturing.
2. GILD provides process control over concentration as well as depth
of doping process.

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THANK YOU
QUESTIONS?
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