How in-line secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) could solve the measurement problem in complicated SiGeB epi stacks by providing material composition profiles as a function of depth.
The epitaxial process is a well-established deposition technique in semiconductor fabrication because it enables the ability to achieve much higher doping concentrations than can be obtained via ion implantation. As we move toward <5nm technology, a key process for enabling gate-all-around FET (GAAFET) is the stacked multi-lattice of Silicon (Si) and Silicon-germanium (SiGe) epi process for constructing the nanosheets.
Germanium (Ge) content in SiGe correlates to channel stress, and the germanium fraction (Ge%) has been increasing steadily as we move towards smaller technology nodes. When stress is high, epi layers can suffer from multiple problems such as defect formation, facet formation, non-uniform strain, etc. The challenge is greater when moving from planar to 3D structures, where uniformity of strain and control of defect density are important. Often, multiple epi layers of SiGe with varying thicknesses, Ge%, and Boron doping are deposited to optimize the device structure and process integration.
Enabling process control on the layer thickness, Ge%, and Boron doping concentration in these complicated SiGeB epi stacks is critical in high-volume manufacturing (HVM), and there is no single in-line metrology that is able to do the measurement.
This paper describes how in-line Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) could be a solution to this problem by providing material composition profiles as a function of depth – resulting in thickness, Ge% and Boron concentration data from each nanosheet.
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