Yasuhiko Kimura

Introduction of the MC3-II/GP system, medium current ion implanter with enhanced multi-charge beam current

The MC3-II/GP is a leading-edge single-wafer medium-current ion implanter, newly developed by SEN Corporation. It demonstrates exceptional productivity based on a high speed wafer-handling station and enhanced beam current. It covers a substantively wider energy range in order to fully meet advanced device requirements. Retaining the superior features of the MC3-II/WR, the MC3-II/GP provides a remarkable increase of multiply-charged beam current coupled with longer ion source lifetime. Another advanced feature of the MC3-II/GP is a 30 second or 14% reduction in auto beam setup time. These improvements enable a fabrication line to reduce the total number of ion implanters and dramatically reduce COO.

Productivity Improvement for the SHX—SEN’s Single‐Wafer High‐Current Ion Implanter

Equipment productivity is a critical issue for device fabrication. For ion implantation, productivity is determined both by ion current at the wafer and by utilization efficiency of the ion beam. Such improvements not only result in higher fabrication efficiency but also reduce consumption of both electrical power and process gases. For high‐current ion implanters, reduction of implant area is a key factor to increase efficiency. SEN has developed the SAVING system (Scanning Area Variation Implantation with Narrower Geometrical pattern) to address this opportunity. In this paper, three variations of the SAVING system are introduced along with discussion of their effects on fab productivity.

MIND+ system; More universal dose patterns by single-step ion implantation

Electrical characteristics of semi-conductor devices within a wafer are expected to be uniform based on control of the dose pattern during the ion implant process. SEN developed the MIND system (Mapping of Intentional Non-uniform Dosage), to provide such dose pattern control. This capability has been enhanced with MIND+. The new system provides improved two-dimensional dose pattern control with more degrees of freedom and greater accuracy than the original MIND system. In addition, MIND+ can generate practical dose patterns (see below) while using a single step implant. As a result, MIND+ provides a very powerful tool for yield enhancement without sacrificing throughput. This paper will provide more detail on the capabilities and practical applications of the MIND+ system.

SEN's SAVING techniques for productivity enhancement

Needless to say, productivity of ion implantation processes is a very important issue for economical device fabrication. Reduction of implant areas is one of the essential keys to increase a beam utilization factor for high-current ion implanters. SEN already developed the X-, Y-, D-, and F-SAVING system to address this issue. This time, another SAVING system, the O-SAVING, has been developed for the SHX-III/S. In result, the system reduces implant time in 40% from the original implant and more than 10% from the F-SAVING. This system can freely change the beam scan widths and positions, keeping the beam scan frequency constant. In this manner not only good uniformity is ensured but also a shape of implant area can be freely selected from arbitrary shapes such as a circle, a triangle, a semicircle, and so on.

F-SAVING system productivity improvement for the SHX-III

Productivity of an ion implantation process is one of the critical issues for device fabrication. Reduction of implant area is a key factor to increase beam utilization for high-current implanters. SEN has already developed the X-, Y- and D-SAVING systems to address this issue. These allow reduction of beam scan length horizontally along the center line, vertically and horizontally along the right hand side of the wafer off the center line, respectively. These SAVING systems are is use for volume manufacturing by several semiconductor fabs. The F-SAVING system is the latest development for the SHX-III. One of the most important features in the F-SAVING system is the introduction of two-dimensional information on beam size for additional reduction of implant area. In this report, detail concepts of the F-SAVING system will be discussed.

Manufacturing Application of SEN’s MIND system

The MIND system (Mapping of Intentional Non‐uniform Dose) has been developed by SEN and installed on single wafer implanters—both the medium current MC3 and the high current SHX series. Using this system, both the mechanical (vertical) and beam (horizontal) scan speeds can be simultaneously controlled to create two‐dimensional non‐uniform dose profiles during a single‐step ion implant. The MIND system has been used for device manufacturing with excellent results at several fabrication lines.