The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 11, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 29, 1998
Daniel F Downey, Magnolia, MA (US);
Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc., Gloucester, MA (US);
Abstract
A method is provided for forming a shallow junction in a semiconductor wafer that has been implanted with a dopant material. The dopant material is activated by thermal processing of the semiconductor wafer in a thermal processing chamber at a selected temperature for a selected time. The oxygen concentration in the thermal processing chamber during activation of the dopant material is controlled at or near a selected level less than a background level that is typically present when the thermal processing chamber is filled with a process gas. The oxygen concentration may be controlled at or near a selected level in a range less than 1000 parts per million and is preferably controlled at or near a selected level in a range of about 30-300 parts per million. The method is particularly useful for implanted boron or BF.sub.2 ions, but may be used for any dopant material.