New implant equipment for the production of commercial SOI substrates

For SIMOX or Smartcut/sup TM/ wafers to become commercially viable for mass production. the cost of implantation needs to be reduced. The cost per implant is closely linked to the ratio of the throughput to the cost of the equipment. Technologists in the field have been working at reducing the dose requirements. but given the existence of viable processes. what has been done, or could be done, to minimize the cost of performing the process? In this paper we discuss the optimization of the equipment around the process, as the industry moves from the pilot phase into full production. New simplifications in the design of implanters are presented which could provide significant reductions in the cost of processing wafers of either type.