METHOD OF THERMAL PROCESSING STRUCTURES FORMED ON A SUBSTRATE

Abstract

The present invention generally describes one ore more 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. A method of thermally processing a substrate, comprising: positioning a substrate on a substrate support; anddelivering a plurality of electromagnetic energy pulses to first area on a surface of a substrate that is in thermal communication with a first region of the substrate, wherein delivering a plurality of electromagnetic energy pulses comprises: delivering a first pulse of electromagnetic energy to the surface of the substrate;delivering a second pulse of electromagnetic energy to the surface of the substrate; andadjusting the time between the start of the first pulse and the start of the second pulse so that the material contained in the first region melts.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of energy in the first pulse and the amount of energy in the second pulse by themselves is not enough to cause the material contained in the first region to melt.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising heating the substrate support so that the substrate positioned thereon is at a temperature between about 20° C. and about 600° C. before the electromagnetic energy is delivered to the surface of the substrate.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising cooling the substrate support so that the substrate positioned thereon is at a temperature between about −240° C. and about 20° C. before the electromagnetic energy is delivered to the surface of the substrate.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the first region on the surface of the substrate so that the melting point of the material contained within the first region melts at a lower temperature than the material contained within a second region on the substrate surface.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein modifying the first region includes disposing a doping material within the first region, wherein the doping material is selected from a group consisting of germanium, arsenic, gallium, carbon, tin, and antimony.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation delivered in the first pulse is different that than the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation delivered in the second pulse.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: delivering a plurality of electromagnetic energy pulses to second area on the surface of the substrate that is in thermal communication with a second region of the substrate, wherein the second area is adjacent to the first area and delivering a plurality of electromagnetic energy pulses comprises: delivering a third pulse of electromagnetic energy to the surface of the substrate;delivering a fourth pulse of electromagnetic energy to the surface of the substrate; andadjusting the time between the start of the third pulse and the start of the fourth pulse so that the material contained in the second region melts.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the boundary of the first area and the second area is aligned with one or more scribe lines formed on the surface of the substrate.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first area on the surface of the substrate is between about 4 mm2 and about 1000 mm2.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: delivering a third pulse of electromagnetic energy to the surface of the substrate; andadjusting the time between the start of the second pulse and the start of the third pulse so that the material contained in the first region melts.

12. A method of thermally processing a substrate, comprising: positioning a substrate on a substrate support; anddelivering electromagnetic energy to a surface of a substrate that is in thermal communication with a first region and a second region of the substrate, wherein delivering electromagnetic energy comprises: delivering a first amount of electromagnetic energy at a first wavelength to preferentially melt a material contained in the first region rather than the second region; anddelivering a second amount of electromagnetic energy at a second wavelength to preferentially melt the material contained in the first region rather than the second region, wherein the delivering a second amount of electromagnetic energy and the delivering a first amount of electromagnetic energy overlap in time.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising heating the substrate support so that the substrate positioned thereon is at a temperature between about 20° C. and about 600° C. before the electromagnetic energy is delivered to the surface of the substrate.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising cooling the substrate support so that the substrate positioned thereon is at a temperature between about −240° C. and about 20° C. before the electromagnetic energy is delivered to the surface of the substrate.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising modifying a first region on the surface of the substrate so that the melting point of the material contained within the first region melts at a lower temperature than the material contained within the second region on the substrate surface.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein modifying the first region includes disposing a doping material within the first region, wherein the doping material is selected from a group consisting of germanium, arsenic, gallium, carbon, tin, and antimony.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising delivering a third amount of electromagnetic energy to preferentially melt the material contained in the first region rather than the second region, wherein the delivering the third amount of electromagnetic energy and the delivering the second amount of electromagnetic energy overlap in time.

18. A method of thermally processing a substrate, comprising: positioning a substrate on a substrate support;delivering electromagnetic energy to a first area on a surface of a substrate that is in thermal communication with a first region and a second region of the substrate, wherein delivering electromagnetic energy comprises: delivering a first amount of electromagnetic energy at a first wavelength to preferentially melt a material contained in the first region rather than the second region; anddelivering a second amount of electromagnetic energy at a first wavelength to preferentially melt the material contained in the first region rather than the second region after the first amount of electromagnetic energy; anddelivering electromagnetic energy to a second area on the surface of the substrate that is in thermal communication with a third region and a fourth region of the substrate, wherein the second area is generally adjacent to the first area and delivering electromagnetic energy comprises: delivering a first amount of electromagnetic energy at a first wavelength to preferentially melt a material contained in the third region rather than the fourth region; anddelivering a second amount of electromagnetic energy at a first wavelength to preferentially melt the material contained in the third region rather than the fourth region after the first amount of electromagnetic energy.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising heating the substrate support so that the substrate positioned thereon is at a temperature between about 20° C. and about 600° C. before delivering the electromagnetic energy to the first or second areas.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising cooling the substrate support so that the substrate positioned thereon is at a temperature between about −240° C. and about 20° C. before delivering the electromagnetic energy to the first or second areas.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising modifying a first region and the third region on the surface of the substrate so that the melting point of the material contained within the first region and third region melts at a lower temperature than the material contained within a second region and the fourth region on the substrate surface.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein modifying the first region and third region includes disposing a doping material within the first region and third region, wherein the doping material is selected from a group consisting of germanium, arsenic, gallium, carbon, tin, and antimony.

23. A method of thermally processing a substrate, comprising: delivering an amount of electromagnetic energy to a first area on a surface of a substrate to cause a material in one or more regions within the first area to melt; anddelivering an amount of electromagnetic energy to a second area on the surface of the substrate to cause a material in one or more regions within the second area to melt, wherein the first area and the second area on the surface of the substrate are generally adjacent to each other.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising heating a substrate support so that the substrate positioned thereon is at a temperature between about 20° C. and about 600° C. before the amount of electromagnetic energy is delivered to the first or second areas on the surface of the substrate.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising cooling a substrate support so that the substrate positioned thereon is at a temperature between about −240° C. and about 20° C. before the amount of electromagnetic energy is delivered to the first or second areas on the surface of the substrate.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the first and second areas on the surface of the substrate are between about 4 mm2 and about 1000 mm2.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the boundary of the first area and the second area is aligned with one or more scribe lines formed on the surface of the substrate.

28. A method of thermally processing a substrate, comprising: positioning a substrate on a substrate support; anddelivering electromagnetic energy to a surface of a substrate that is in thermal communication with a first region and second region of the substrate, wherein delivering electromagnetic energy comprises: adjusting the shape of a pulse of electromagnetic energy as a function of time to preferentially melt the material contained in the first region.