10-15 nm ultrashallow junction formation by flash-lamp annealing

Flash-lamp annealing (FLA) technology, a new method of activating implanted impurities, is proposed, FLA is able to reduce the time of the heating cycle to within the millisecond range. With this technology, an abrupt profile is realized, with a dopant concentration that can exceed the maximum carrier concentration obtained by conventional rapid thermal annealing (RTA) or furnace annealing. In contrast to a laser annealing method, FLA can activate dopants in an 8-inch-diameter substrate and, simultaneously, strictly control diffusion of dopants so as not to melt the substrate surface by radiation. FLA presents the possibility of fabricating sub-0.1-mum MOSFETs with good characteristics.