Sputter‐initiated resonance ionization spectroscopy: An analytical technique for quantitative and sensitive measurements of impurities and ultra‐shallow doping profiles in semiconductors

Sputter‐initiated resonance ionization spectroscopy (SIRIS) is an emerging analytical technique for quantitative and sensitive measurements of impurities and ultra‐shallow doping profiles in semiconductors. SIRIS has almost all of the advantages of secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), while making significant improvements in the following SIMS shortcomings: efficiency, matrix dependence, isobaric and molecular interferences, sensitivity, dynamic range, and quantitation accuracy. In this article, the SIRIS technique is described and shows typical SIRIS depth profiles of boron implanted into silicon with dynamic ranges greater than ∼2×106 as well as SIRIS aluminum depth profiles of layered GaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs samples with depth resolution of up to ∼2 nm at 0.5 keV Ar+ primary ion energy. SIRIS’s dynamic range, sensitivity, depth resolution and its limitations, and quantitation accuracy will be discussed in detail.