Defects induced by arsenic ion implantation and thin film-edge stresses

The effects of annealing temperatures on the reduction of the defects induced by the combination of arsenic ion implantation and thin film stresses were studied. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM), preferential etching, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the defects. The results indicated that a low temperature annealing step right after As + ion implantation is critical to anneal out the implantation damage and prevent the damage acts as dislocation sources to generate dislocations. Without proper annealing, the generated dislocations can propagate into the active device regions resulting in excessive leakage current.