GB2098798A - Method of making silicon semiconductor devices - Google Patents
Method of making silicon semiconductor devices Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- GB2098798A GB2098798A GB8114910A GB8114910A GB2098798A GB 2098798 A GB2098798 A GB 2098798A GB 8114910 A GB8114910 A GB 8114910A GB 8114910 A GB8114910 A GB 8114910A GB 2098798 A GB2098798 A GB 2098798A
- Authority
- GB
- United Kingdom
- Prior art keywords
- silicon
- carbon
- silicon semiconductor
- atoms
- semiconductor devices
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Granted
Links
- 229910052710 silicon Inorganic materials 0.000 title claims abstract description 52
- 239000010703 silicon Substances 0.000 title claims abstract description 52
- 239000004065 semiconductor Substances 0.000 title claims abstract description 14
- XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Silicon Chemical compound [Si] XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 title claims description 49
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 title claims description 9
- OKTJSMMVPCPJKN-UHFFFAOYSA-N Carbon Chemical compound [C] OKTJSMMVPCPJKN-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims abstract description 26
- 229910052799 carbon Inorganic materials 0.000 claims abstract description 26
- 238000000137 annealing Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 12
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 claims description 14
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 claims description 7
- IJGRMHOSHXDMSA-UHFFFAOYSA-N Atomic nitrogen Chemical compound N#N IJGRMHOSHXDMSA-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims description 4
- 238000010438 heat treatment Methods 0.000 claims description 3
- 239000007789 gas Substances 0.000 claims description 2
- 229910052757 nitrogen Inorganic materials 0.000 claims description 2
- PXHVJJICTQNCMI-UHFFFAOYSA-N Nickel Chemical compound [Ni] PXHVJJICTQNCMI-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 8
- XKRFYHLGVUSROY-UHFFFAOYSA-N Argon Chemical compound [Ar] XKRFYHLGVUSROY-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 4
- PCHJSUWPFVWCPO-UHFFFAOYSA-N gold Chemical compound [Au] PCHJSUWPFVWCPO-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 4
- 239000010931 gold Substances 0.000 description 4
- 229910052737 gold Inorganic materials 0.000 description 4
- 229910052759 nickel Inorganic materials 0.000 description 4
- OAICVXFJPJFONN-UHFFFAOYSA-N Phosphorus Chemical compound [P] OAICVXFJPJFONN-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 2
- 229910052786 argon Inorganic materials 0.000 description 2
- QVGXLLKOCUKJST-UHFFFAOYSA-N atomic oxygen Chemical compound [O] QVGXLLKOCUKJST-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 2
- 230000015556 catabolic process Effects 0.000 description 2
- 239000002019 doping agent Substances 0.000 description 2
- 238000011835 investigation Methods 0.000 description 2
- 239000001301 oxygen Substances 0.000 description 2
- 229910052760 oxygen Inorganic materials 0.000 description 2
- 229910052698 phosphorus Inorganic materials 0.000 description 2
- 239000011574 phosphorus Substances 0.000 description 2
- ZOXJGFHDIHLPTG-UHFFFAOYSA-N Boron Chemical compound [B] ZOXJGFHDIHLPTG-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- RYGMFSIKBFXOCR-UHFFFAOYSA-N Copper Chemical compound [Cu] RYGMFSIKBFXOCR-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 238000004566 IR spectroscopy Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000015572 biosynthetic process Effects 0.000 description 1
- 229910052796 boron Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 229910052802 copper Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000010949 copper Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000008367 deionised water Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000002939 deleterious effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000005530 etching Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000002184 metal Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229910052751 metal Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 229920003023 plastic Polymers 0.000 description 1
- 239000004033 plastic Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000001556 precipitation Methods 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching and having potential barriers; Capacitors or resistors having potential barriers, e.g. a PN-junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/02—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/12—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by the materials of which they are formed
- H01L29/16—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by the materials of which they are formed including, apart from doping materials or other impurities, only elements of Group IV of the Periodic Table
- H01L29/167—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by the materials of which they are formed including, apart from doping materials or other impurities, only elements of Group IV of the Periodic Table further characterised by the doping material
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
- H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic Table or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
- H01L21/30—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26
- H01L21/322—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26 to modify their internal properties, e.g. to produce internal imperfections
- H01L21/3221—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26 to modify their internal properties, e.g. to produce internal imperfections of silicon bodies, e.g. for gettering
- H01L21/3225—Thermally inducing defects using oxygen present in the silicon body for intrinsic gettering
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching and having potential barriers; Capacitors or resistors having potential barriers, e.g. a PN-junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/66—Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/86—Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor controllable only by variation of the electric current supplied, or only the electric potential applied, to one or more of the electrodes carrying the current to be rectified, amplified, oscillated or switched
- H01L29/861—Diodes
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
- Power Engineering (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
- Ceramic Engineering (AREA)
- Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
- Crystals, And After-Treatments Of Crystals (AREA)
Abstract
Silicon having a carbon content from 3 x 10<16> to 3 x 10<17> atoms cm<-3> is made suitable for making high voltage semiconductor diodes by first annealing the silicon at a temperature from 1100 to 1300 DEG C for from 500 to 20 hours in an atmosphere which is inert to silicon at the annealing temperature before fabricating the diodes.
Description
SPECIFICATION
Method of making silicon semiconductor devices
The invention relates to a method of making silicon semiconductor devices, and to silicon semiconductor devices made by such a method. It is well-known that the presence of significant quantities of carbon, for example,
1 X 1017 atom cm-3, in semiconductor silicon causes reverse leakage current rejects in silicon diodes. Problems were encountered in the manufacture of silicon power diodes when using silicon containing a carbon concentration of the order of 2 X 10'7 atoms cm-3. The yield of acceptable devices made using this material was substantially zero, due to high reverse leakage currents. The problems were overcome at the time by using only silicon having relatively low carbon contents, for example less than 4 x 1016 atoms cm-3.
An article by N. Akiyama et al entitled "Lowering breakdown voltage of semiconductor silicon" in Appl. Phys. Lett. 22 (12) 630 (1976), indicates that carbon is precipitated when silicon containing carbon in concentrations of the order of 1017 atoms cm-3 is heated at temperatures of 1100, 1200 and 1 300 C, and breakdown of silicon diodes made from such silicon is caused by the precipitated carbon.
An object of the invention is to reduce the losses due to high reverse leakage currents in silicon semiconductor devices made using silicon containing from 3 x 1016 to 3 X 1017 atoms of carbon cm-3. These devices may be, for example, diffused power transistors, or power diodes.
The invention provides a method of manufacturing a silicon semiconductor device, the method including the steps of using silicon having a carbon content of from 3 X 1016 to 3 x 1017 atoms cm-3, annealing the silicon by heating at a temperature from 1100 to 1 300 C in an atmosphere which is inert to silicon at the annealing temperature for a time of 500 to 20 hours, and then fabricating the device using the annealed material. The lower the annealing temperature, the longer is the annealing process required. The atmosphere in which annealing is performed may consist, for example, of nitrogen or a rare gas such as argon. The method is particularly suitable for manufacturing silicon power diodes.
During the investigations which led to the present invention, extensive studies were made of silicon containing high concentrations (of the order of 2 x 1017 atoms cm-3), which had been heated at temperatures in the range from 1100 to 1 300 C. The maximum temperature at which the silicon was annealed was limited by the characteristics of the furnace tube material. The processes used for making the devices, other than the annealing process, were the conventional processes used for making such devices.
Itl the drawing,
Figure 1 is a graph on which the reverse leakage current 1R of a 350 volt rectifier diode is plotted against the carbon content [ C ] of the silicon used to make the diode,
Figure 2 is a graph on which A C (the change in the concentration of substitutional carbon detected in the silicon after the silicon has been heated at 1 200'C for 100 hours in dry oxygen) is plotted against the initial substitutional carbon concentration [C] of the silicon, and
Figures 3a to 3f schematically show successive stages in the manufacture of a silicon power diode.
It was found that when using a silicon containing only 4 X 1016 atoms of carbon cm-3, there was a measurable, deleterious effect of the yield of power diodes made from such silicon due to high reverse leakage currents (Fig. 1). The substitutional carbon concentration of the silicon was determined by infra-red spectrophotometry. It was unexpectedly found that the 16 ym emission characterizing substitutional carbon increased after silicon containing carbon in quantities from 3
X 1016 to 3 X 1017 atoms cm-3 had been subjected to a high temperature annealing process at 1 200 C for 100 hours in dry oxygen. This finding was inconsistent with the previously held hypothesis that when silicon containing carbon in quantities below the saturation concentration is heated, there is precipitation of carbon. It will be seen from Fig.
2, that A C is approximately 8% when the carbon concentration is 1 X 1017 atoms cm-3. This finding led to the investigation of the effect of high temperature annealing of silicon containing different concentrations of carbon on silicon semiconductor devices, for example, power diodes, in which reverse leakage current is a significant problem.
An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the following
Example.
EXAMPLE
N-type silicon (0.05 ohm.m, doped with phosphorus) ingots having different carbon contents were halved. One half of each ingot was heated for 300 hours at 1 200 C in argon, and the other half of each ingot was not subjected to any heat treatment. Each half-ingot was washed thoroughly in deionised water, and was then cut into 300 lim thick slices. These slices, both from the heat-treated and untreated half ingots, were used to make silicon power diodes, using conventional processes under similar conditions for the treated and untreated silicon.
Referring to Figs. 3a to 3f, each silicon slice 1 was provided with a 50#m thick N + conductivity layer 2 on both major surfaces using phosphorus as the dopant. One of these layers 2 was removed by a lapping and etching process in which approximately 110 ym thickness of material was removed. A P-type 60 ym thick layer 3 was then formed on the major surface of the slice 1 remote from the
N + layer 2 using boron as the dopant.
During the formation of the P-type layer 3, the thickness of the N + layer 2 increased to approximately 80cm. The slice was then doped with gold so as to gold kill the device.
5 ym thick nickel layers 4 were then formed on the layers 2 and 3, and 0.3 ym gold contact layers 5 were provided on each of the nickel layers 4. Each slice was then divided into dice 6, and each dice was then mounted on a copper base plate 7, the nickel layer 4 abutting the N + layer 2 being soldered to the plate 7. The base plate 7 bearing the dice 6 was sealed into a synthetic plastics envelope 8 from which metal connecting pins 9 and 10 extended, and which pins were connected respectively to the base plate 7 and the gold layer 5 present on the nickel layer 4 which was superposed on the P-type layer 3.
Devices were made from silicon containing two different carbon contents, namely a control having a carbon content of 2.5 X 1016 atoms cm-3, and a high carbon content grade containing 1.5 X 1017 atoms cm-3. The high carbon content grade material produced power diodes with a yield of 96% for the heat-treated silicon and 77% for the untreated silicon, the reverse leakage current rejects being 2% and 18% respectively. The yields for the control materials were 92% and 96% for the heat-treated and untreated silicon respectively, and the reverse leakage current rejects in each case were 3%.
Claims (5)
1. A method of manufacturing a silicon semiconductor device, the method including the steps of using silicon having a carbon content of from 3 X 1016 to 3 X 10'7 atoms cm-3, annealing the silicon by heating at a temperature from 1100 to 1 300 C in an atmosphere which is inert to silicon at the annealing temperature for a time of from 500 to 20 hours, and then fabricating the device using the annealed material.
2. A method as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the atmosphere consists of nitrogen or a rare gas.
3. A method as claimed in Claim1 or
Claim 2, wherein the silicon semiconductor device is a power diode.
4. A method of manufacturing a silicon semiconductor device as claimed in Claim 1, substantially as herein described with reference to the Example.
5. A silicon semiconductor device manufactured by a method as claimed in any preceding Claim.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB8114910A GB2098798B (en) | 1981-05-15 | 1981-05-15 | Method of making silicon semiconductor devices |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB8114910A GB2098798B (en) | 1981-05-15 | 1981-05-15 | Method of making silicon semiconductor devices |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| GB2098798A true GB2098798A (en) | 1982-11-24 |
| GB2098798B GB2098798B (en) | 1985-01-09 |
Family
ID=10521824
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB8114910A Expired GB2098798B (en) | 1981-05-15 | 1981-05-15 | Method of making silicon semiconductor devices |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| GB (1) | GB2098798B (en) |
Cited By (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP0419256A1 (en) * | 1989-09-21 | 1991-03-27 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Carbon doping MOSFET substrate to suppress hot electron trapping |
| EP0646969A2 (en) * | 1993-10-05 | 1995-04-05 | Motorola, Inc. | Carbon silicon semiconductor device having a narrowed bandgap characteristic and method of fabrication |
| WO2009002476A3 (en) * | 2007-06-25 | 2009-03-05 | Sandisk 3D Llc | Nonvolatile memory device containing a carbon- or nitrogen-doped diode and methods of making andoperating the same |
| US8072791B2 (en) | 2007-06-25 | 2011-12-06 | Sandisk 3D Llc | Method of making nonvolatile memory device containing carbon or nitrogen doped diode |
| US8102694B2 (en) | 2007-06-25 | 2012-01-24 | Sandisk 3D Llc | Nonvolatile memory device containing carbon or nitrogen doped diode |
-
1981
- 1981-05-15 GB GB8114910A patent/GB2098798B/en not_active Expired
Cited By (7)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP0419256A1 (en) * | 1989-09-21 | 1991-03-27 | Hewlett-Packard Company | Carbon doping MOSFET substrate to suppress hot electron trapping |
| EP0646969A2 (en) * | 1993-10-05 | 1995-04-05 | Motorola, Inc. | Carbon silicon semiconductor device having a narrowed bandgap characteristic and method of fabrication |
| EP0646969A3 (en) * | 1993-10-05 | 1995-08-02 | Motorola Inc | Carbon silicon semiconductor device having a narrowed bandgap characteristic and method of fabrication. |
| WO2009002476A3 (en) * | 2007-06-25 | 2009-03-05 | Sandisk 3D Llc | Nonvolatile memory device containing a carbon- or nitrogen-doped diode and methods of making andoperating the same |
| US8072791B2 (en) | 2007-06-25 | 2011-12-06 | Sandisk 3D Llc | Method of making nonvolatile memory device containing carbon or nitrogen doped diode |
| CN101720507B (en) * | 2007-06-25 | 2012-01-11 | 桑迪士克3D公司 | Nonvolatile memory device containing carbon or nitrogen doped diode and method of making and operating same |
| US8102694B2 (en) | 2007-06-25 | 2012-01-24 | Sandisk 3D Llc | Nonvolatile memory device containing carbon or nitrogen doped diode |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB2098798B (en) | 1985-01-09 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCNP | Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee |