This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will evaluate the feasibility of developing gas-cluster ion-beam (GCIB) sputtering of semiconductor surfaces into innovative tools for electronic materials. This research will evaluate GCIB sputtering for secondary-ion mass spectrometer (SIMS) instruments. The overriding motivation for this R&D is the critical need in the semiconductor industry for techniques and methods which can etch in a highly uniform manner and thus facilitate accurate and sensitive depth measurements. Future generations of microelectronics must have ultra-shallow junction depths, higher doping levels and improvement in interface and doping abruptness to meet the 1997 SIA Roadmap. Dynamic SIMS is the most sensitive technique for analysis of semiconductors. State-of-the-art instruments employ energetic, monatomic ion beams to sputter the analytical surface. These roughen the surface and limit depth resolution. To achieve the required subnanometer depth resolutions in SIMS new sputter beams must be developed. GCIB methods with singly ionized argon or oxygen clusters (of 1,000) sputter with nearly atomic depth resolution, and high secondary-ion yields. Phase I will construct a prototype system to demonstrate analytical feasibility. Phase II will develop dedicated ion sources for critical analysis to provide depth profiling for SIMS, and Auger-electron and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopies. The proposed technology will enable analysis of next-generation semiconductor devices having much higher performance and enhance manufacturing yields. Epion is the first and only to manufacture GCIB systems. The basic GCIB technique will have a wide applicability to many areas of electronic materials processing and manufacturing industry.
