APPARATUS FOR THERMAL PROCESSING STRUCTURES FORMED ON A SUBSTRATE

Abstract

The present invention generally describes one ore more apparatuses and various methods that are used to perform an annealing process on desired regions of a substrate. In one embodiment, an amount of energy is delivered to the surface of the substrate to preferentially melt certain desired regions of the substrate to remove unwanted damage created from prior processing steps (e.g., crystal damage from implant processes), more evenly distribute dopants in various regions of the substrate, and/or activate various regions of the substrate. The preferential melting processes will allow more uniform distribution of the dopants in the melted region, due to the increased diffusion rate and solubility of the dopant atoms in the molten region of the substrate. The creation of a melted region thus allows: 1) the dopant atoms to redistribute more uniformly, 2) defects created in prior processing steps to be removed, and 3) regions that have hyper-abrupt dopant concentrations to be formed.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates an isometric view of an energy source that is adapted to project an amount of energy on a defined region of the substrate described within an embodiment herein;

FIGS. 2A-2F illustrate a schematic side view of a region on a surface of a substrate described within an embodiment herein;

FIG. 3A illustrate a graph of concentration versus depth into a region of a substrate illustrated in FIG. 2A that is within an embodiment herein;

FIG. 3B illustrate a graph of concentration versus depth into a region of a substrate illustrated in FIG. 2B that is within an embodiment herein;

FIG. 3C illustrate a graph of concentration versus depth into a region of a substrate illustrated in FIG. 2C that is within an embodiment herein;

FIGS. 4A-4G schematic diagrams of electromagnetic energy pulses described within an embodiment herein;

FIGS. 5A-5C illustrate a schematic side view of a region on a surface of a substrate described within an embodiment herein;

FIG. 6A illustrate methods of forming one or more desired layers on a surface of the substrate described within an embodiment contained herein;

FIGS. 6B-6D illustrate schematic side views of a region of a substrate described in conjunction with the method illustrated in FIG. 6A that is within an embodiment described herein;

FIG. 6E illustrate methods of forming one or more desired layers on a surface of the substrate described within an embodiment contained herein;

FIGS. 6F-6G illustrate schematic side views of a region of a substrate described in conjunction with the method illustrated in FIG. 6E that is within an embodiment described herein;

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic side view of a region on the surface of a substrate described within an embodiment herein;

FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic side view of a region on the surface of a substrate described within an embodiment herein.

FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic side view of system that has an energy source that is adapted to project an amount of energy on a defined region of the substrate described within an embodiment herein.

Claims

1. An apparatus for thermally processing a semiconductor substrate, comprising: a substrate support having a substrate supporting surface;a heating element that is adapted to heat a substrate disposed on the substrate support; andan intense light source that is adapted to deliver an amount of radiation to a region on a surface of the substrate disposed on the substrate supporting surface.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the region on the surface of the substrate is between about 4 mm2 and about 1000 mm2.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the heating element is adapted to heat the substrate support to a temperature between about 20° C. and about 600° C.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising one or more cooling channels formed within the substrate support that are adapted receive a heat exchanging fluid that will cool the substrate support to a temperature between about −240° C. and about 20° C.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a stage attached to the substrate support; wherein the stage is adapted to position the substrate in at least one direction generally parallel to the substrate supporting surface.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the intense light source is adapted to deliver radiation at a wavelength between about 500 nm and about 11 micrometers.

7. An apparatus for thermally processing a semiconductor substrate, comprising: an first intense light source that is adapted to deliver a first amount of energy to a region on a surface of the substrate disposed on the substrate supporting surface; anda second intense light source that is adapted to deliver a second amount of energy to the region on the surface of the substrate disposed on the substrate supporting surface; anda controller that is adapted to monitor the first amount of energy delivered to the region on the surface of the substrate and control the time between the delivery of the first amount and second amount of energy and the magnitude of the second amount of energy to achieve a desired temperature in the region.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising: a substrate support having a substrate supporting surface; anda heating element that is adapted to heat a substrate disposed on the substrate support.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the region on the surface of the substrate is between about 4 mm2 and about 1000 mm2.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the heating element is adapted to heat the substrate support to a temperature between about 20° C. and about 600° C.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising one or more cooling channels formed within the substrate support that are adapted receive a heat exchanging fluid that will cool the substrate support to a temperature between about −240° C. and about 20° C.

12. An apparatus for thermally processing a semiconductor substrate, comprising: a substrate support having a substrate supporting surface and an aperture formed in the substrate support; andan intense light source that is adapted to deliver an amount of radiation to a first area of the substrate through the aperture formed in the substrate support and a rear surface of the substrate which is opposite to a front surface of the substrate, wherein the front surface of the substrate contains one or more semiconductor devices formed thereon and the amount of radiation is adapted to melt a region contained within the first area.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the intense light source is adapted to deliver radiation at a wavelength greater than about 1 micrometer.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the intense light source is adapted to deliver radiation at a wavelength between about 500 nm and about 11 micrometers.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first area is between about 4 mm2 and about 1000 mm2.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a stage attached to the substrate support; wherein the stage is adapted to position the substrate in at least one direction generally parallel to the substrate supporting surface.

17. An apparatus for thermally processing a semiconductor substrate, comprising: a substrate support having a substrate supporting surface and an aperture formed in the substrate support;a first source that is adapted to deliver an amount of electromagnetic radiation to a first area of the substrate through the aperture formed in the substrate support and a rear surface of the substrate which is opposite to a front surface of the substrate, wherein the front surface of the substrate contains one or more semiconductor devices formed thereon and the amount of radiation is adapted to melt a region contained within the first area; anda second source that is adapted to deliver an amount of electromagnetic radiation to a first area of the substrate at a desired wavelength.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the intense light source is adapted to deliver radiation at a wavelength greater than about 1 micrometer.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the intense light source is adapted to deliver radiation at a wavelength between about 500 nm and about 11 micrometers.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first area is between about 4 mm2 and about 1000 mm2.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising a stage attached to the substrate support; wherein the stage is adapted to position the substrate in at least one direction generally parallel to the substrate supporting surface.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the second source is adapted to deliver electromagnetic radiation to the first area at a wavelength less than about 590 nm.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the second source is adjacent to the front surface of the substrate.