Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
Experimental evidence is provided for ultrasound stimulated dissociation of metal-acceptor pairs in silicon, and also for enhanced diffusion of metal interstitials which may lead to enhanced pairing. The first effect is found dominant in Fe-doped p-type silicon where ultrasound causes low temperature dissociation of Fe-B pairs. This is in contrast to Cr-doped p-type silicon where ultrasound enhances the formation of Cr-B pairs due to enhanced diffusivity of Cr by as much as two orders of magnitude.
In this study, the metal-acceptor reaction was monitored in situ via corresponding changes of the minority carrier diffusion length measured by non-contact surface photovoltage. Ultrasound-stimulated pair reaction can be utilized for metal diagnostics for the silicon IC industry. Thus, with ultrasound, Cr-B pairing can be reduced from months to hours, making possible the identification of Cr via pairing kinetics in a reasonable period of time.