The work presents the main electro-optical characteristics of very shallow silicon n+-p and P+-n junctions fabricated through masked ion implantation of phosphorus (31P+) and boron (11B+), respectively. The dependence of electro-optical characteristics on technological parameters (implant energy E and dose Q, oxide thickness Xox, impurity redistributions, etc.) are outlined in detail.

The implant step was performed through a thermally-grown silicon dioxide (SiO2) mask of variable thickness (Xox = 100-1200 Å) at energies ranging from E=10 keV to 50 keV and with a dose level Q = 5 x 1014 - 2 x 1015 cm-2. As a rule, after the implant step the oxide layer was etched down. In several samples, the Si0 2 layer was preserved in the finished devices.

The characterization of fabricated junctions was performed using a Karl Zeiss quartz prism monochromator coupled to a Tektronix 31/4661 data acquisition system. The main peculiar results could be summarized as follows: (a) all fabricated devices possess a relatively large bandwidth (up to 580 nm) of the relative spectral response; (b) for oxide thickness Xox Rp (projected range), the low energy implant yields devices with good blue response; (c) for Xox equal or larger than Rp a pronounced shift of the peak responsivity wavelength toward the visible spectrum of the light occurs; (d) a distinctive feature of devices consists in the high peak values of the short-circuit current density under AM1 insolation (in excess of 33 mA/cm2); (e) the preservation of SiO2 layer in the finished devices improves their electro-optical characteristics.