Partners and International Organizations
(English)
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FhG IIS-B, Erlangen (D); CEMES, Toulouse (F); IMETEM, Catania (I); IMEL, Athen (EL); ISEN, Lille (F); Philips, Eindhoven (NL); University of Surrey, Surrey (UK); University of Southhampton, Southhampton (UK); MTA-MFA, Budapest (H)
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Abstract
(English)
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For the continuous miniaturization of silicon devices, various alternatives are tested during front-end process development. Because of the enormous costs of experimental validation, and to save time, technology-computer-aided design (TCAD) is used extensively in the industry. But the success of TCAD is limited when device simulation is based on incorrect doping distributions. However, the rapid technological progress requires models for processes outside the limits of experimental knowledge. Such models often do not exist or are not accurate enough. Based on suggestions and by a direct initiative of the leading European semiconductor manufacturers, the program FRENDTECH aims at providing missing top priority models in the area of ion implantation, diffusion, and oxidation.
Objectives:
Simulation of the fabrication of semiconductor devices has generally been accepted by industry to be very important for optimisation and development of new devices. However, the technological progress in the semiconductor industry is very rapid and predictive models needed for simulating advanced devices are required now in areas where they do not exist or where models are not sufficiently accurate to be used in industrial applications. A list of top priorities for such models has been specified by the leading European semiconductor manufacturers organized in the ESPRIT User Group 'UPPER'. The overall objective of FRENDTECH is to provide the European semiconductor industry with these missing top priority simulation models for front-end semiconductor processing. Driven by the demands of UPPER, models will be developed for ion implantation, diffusion, and oxidation.
Work description:
FRENDTECH aims at providing missing models requested by industry for front-end simulation of silicon and silicon-germanium devices. The areas covered by the proposal are ion implantation, diffusion, and oxidation. Within ion implantation, parameters for one- and two-dimensional impurity profiles will be determined. In addition, defect profiles will be characterised and parameterised for high-dose, low-energy implants. An important part of the work on diffusion concerns extended defects (from small interstitial clusters via {113} defects to end-of-range disorder), which are known to be responsible for transient effects in diffusion and activation of dopants. Here, the details of their energetics and kinetics will be established both on the basis of theoretical investigations and experimental work. Work on impurity diffusion will lead to models for nitrogen and indium diffusion. In addition, the influence of nitrogen on oxidation-enhanced diffusion will be studied and modelled. Two-dimensional measurements of boron and other advanced techniques will result in a unified model for the transient diffusion and activation of boron. Work on oxidation will lead to a calibrated model able to predict the kinetics of oxidation down to extremely thin oxides, including the influence of dopants and nitrogen. Investigations of silicon-germanium materials will allow to model dopant diffusion and activation in such materials. Stress effects on diffusion and activation of dopants will be addressed also. The work proposed requires the unique combination of facilities for structure fabrication, processing, and characterization of the proposers, together with their expertise in process modelling and simulation. The models developed and parameters extracted will be implemented in a commercial software tool to be of immediate use for the European semiconductor industry.
Milestones:
The result of FRENDTECH will be models describing physical effects relevant for front-end processing of silicon devices. An intermediate milestone will be the optimisation of analytical tools, absolutely needed for the production of the physical models. These, both in the form of parameters for immediate use in advanced process simulation programs, and in the form of commercial software tools, will be available as key milestone at the end of the project.
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