Dopant activation by microwave anneal

Microwave annealing of dopants in Si has been reported to produce highly activated junctions at temperatures far below those needed for comparable results using conventional thermal processes. The amorphous layer regrowth was observed. In addition, phosphorus activated in germanium epitaxy atop Si wafer by low temperature microwave annealing technique was also investigated. Compared to the conventional RTA process, the temperature of phosphorus activation could be 120 to 140°C improvement in reduction at the same sheet resistance. SiN_x films processed by low temperature microwave anneal depict higher tensile stress. The characteristics of diffusionless dopant distribution and higher tensile stress SiN_x film would be useful in contact etch-stop layer (CESL) or stress memorization technique (SMT) in the fabrication of small pitch nano-scaled nMOSFETs. Finally, nanoscale p-MOS TFTs with a TiN gate electrode were realized using a novel microwave dopant activation technique.