Laser spike annealing and its application to leading-edge logic devices

Laser spike annealing (LSA) is a disruptive technology which has been successfully demonstrated for advanced junction engineering—creating highly activated ultra-shallow junctions with near diffusion-less boundaries. These produce higher performing devices with improved drive currents and/or lower leakage currents, and provide design engineers more opportunities for product enhancements. LSA has become the “process of record” for a majority of the industry’s high-performance, logic device manufacturers. LSA produces more uniform temperature and stress distributions in product wafers than lamp-based short time annealing processes. Furthermore, LSA is compatible with new materials such as strained Si, SiGe, high-k and metal gates, and is extendable to new device structures. This paper will review the current LSA capabilities, process and integration methods, summarize its unique capabilities to reduce temperature-induced stress and misalignment, and discuss future opportunities both in junction engineering and other integration areas.