Wafer Mapping Using Deuterium Enhanced Defect Characterization

Deuterium (as well as other hydrogen isotopes) binds with a wide range of morphological defects in semiconductors and, as such, becomes distributed similarly to those defects. Thus, the deuterium profile within the sample serves as the basis of a technique for defect mapping known as amethyst wafer mapping (AWM). The efficiency of this technique has been demonstrated by evaluation of ion-induced damage in implanted Si, as well as as-grown defects in HgCdTe (MCT) epilayers. The defect tagging or decoration capability of deuterium is largely material independent and applicable to a wide range of defect morphologies. A number of analytical techniques including ion channeling and etch pit density measurements were used to evaluate the AWM results.