Increased thickness of buried oxide layer of silicon on insulator in separation by implantation of oxygen with water plasma

An implanter without an ion mass analyzer has been used to successfully fabricate silicon on insulator (SOI) materials by H₂O⁺, HO⁺, and O⁺ ion implantation using water plasma. Based on the consideration that the masses of those three ions are very close, this fabrication makes it possible to form a single buried oxide (BOX) layer by choosing the appropriate implantation energy and dose. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy results indicated that the BOX thickness of the SOI materials fabricated using a water plasma approach is increased more than 50% over that made by the conventional separation by implantation of oxygen (SIMOX) process. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy depth profile analysis on the as-implanted wafers showed that there are two hydrogen enrichment peaks around both sides of the projected range R_p of oxygen, which correspond to the two interfaces of the BOX layer of the annealed samples. The heavily damaged region with hydrogen-induced defects appears to be the adsorption center for the outside oxygen to diffuse into the silicon during the high-temperature annealing process, and consequently, broaden the thickness of the BOX layer. The finding in the present work may provide a possible solution to reduce the cost of the conventional SIMOX–SOI wafers while maintaining a desirable BOX thickness. © 2002 American Vacuum Society.