15-11-2018

MEL G611 :
IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY
Section XI: Epitaxy
1 Nov (Thu) & 3 Nov (Sat) 2018
BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus
Sanket Goel, EEE

Sec X, L 30 & 31: Annealing

• 25 Oct (Thu) & 30 Oct (Tue) 2018

• Learning Objectives
o To understand Annealing of damages and masking
during implantation

• Topics covered
o How annealing helps to recover damages and
thickness of the masking layer improves the masking
efficiency

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 2 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

1
 15-11-2018

Sec XI, L 32 & 33: Epitaxy

• 1 Nov (Thu) & 3 Nov (Sat) 2018

• Learning Objectives
o To understand epitaxy and its use in IC fabrication
process

• Topics to be covered –
o Vapor phase epitaxy
o Molecular Beam Epitaxy
o SoI
o Epitaxial evaluation

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 3 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Basic VLSI Fabrication Steps

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 4 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

2
 15-11-2018

Epitaxy: Meaning
• Epi  upon; taxis  ordered
• To grow a thin crystalline layer on a crystalline substrate
• Not for most thin film applications (coatings)
• Crucial for semiconductor thin film technology to have
o High purity
o Low defect density
o Abrupt interfaces
o Controlled doping profiles
Ordered,
o High repeatability crystalline growth;
o High uniformity NOT epitaxial

o Safe, efficient operation

Epitaxial growth

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 5 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Epitaxy: Types
• Homoepitaxy
o Epitaxy on same material (Si on Si)
o Layers are purer than the substrate and can be doped
independently of it
• Hetroepitaxy (Autoepitaxy)
o layer &subtract different material
o For optoelectronic structures and band gap engineered
devices (AlAs on GaAs growth)
• Vapor Phase Epitaxy:
o Uses CVD, growth rate: ~2 µm/min
• Liquid-Phase Epitaxy
o layers are from melt existent on substrate, growth rate: 0.1-1
µm/min
• Molecular Beam Epitaxy: uses evaporation
MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 6 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

3
 15-11-2018

Epitaxy: Requirement
• Surface preparation
o Clean surface needed
o Defects of surface duplicated in epitaxial layer
o Hydrogen passivation of surface with water/HF
• Surface mobility
o High temperature required heated substrate
o Epitaxial temperature exists, above which deposition is
ordered
o Species need to be able to move into correct
crystallographic location
o Relatively slow growth rates result
 Ex. ~0.4 to 4 nm/min., SiGe on Si

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 7 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Thermodynamics & Kinetics

• Specific thermodynamics varies by process
o Chemical potentials / Driving force
• High temperature process is mass transport controlled, not very
sensitive to temperature changes
• Thermodynamic calculations determines solid composition
based on growth temperature and source composition
• Growth rate controlled by kinetic considerations
o Mass transport, Reactions,
o Physical processes on surface
 Nature and motion of step growth
 Controlling factor in ordering
• Specific reactions depend greatly on method employed

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 8 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

4
 15-11-2018

Vapor Phase Epitaxy

• Wafer in a vacuum chamber rests on a heated susceptor

• Heating  by radiation from filament lamps or by inductively
heating the graphite susceptor
• Gas flows are controlled with mass flow controllers and
pneumatic valves
• At reduced temperatures, diffusivity decreases more rapidly
than growth rate  lower temperature (<800oC) epitaxy
MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 9 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

VPE Process (1/5)

• Deal’s model (same for oxidation)
• Flux of deposition species across gas boundary layer
• Growth rate
o hg  mass transfer coefficient
o ks  surface reaction rate
• Here, growth species is not o Cg concentration in gas
same as feed gas o Cs  concentration on wafer surface
o N = 5 X 1022 cm-3 / # Si atoms
• Many chemical reactions o ks >> hg  mass transport limited regime
• Many simultaneous o hg >> ks  reaction rate limited regime
competitive processes
• For Si-H-Cl system
o SiCl2, SiCl4, SiH2 or Si may be there
o Each have varying physical parameters

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 10 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

5
 15-11-2018

Problem
Assume in growth Equation hg and Cg are independent of
temperature and

hg = 0.1 cm/sec
Cg = 1015cm–3,
EA = 2.0 eV,
ko = 108 cm/sec, and
N = 5 X 1022cm–3,
plot log R versus 1/T.

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 11 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

VPE Process (2/5)

• Detailed model for growth of a layer is by dividing the process
into a sequence of steps, each determining the growth rate
• Precursor gas enters the chamber, where it partially
decomposes to several more reactive daughter species
• These growth species must move through the chamber until
they reach the vicinity of the wafer.
• Near the wafer
the growth
species diffuse
through the
stagnant or
boundary layer
until they reach
the surface
MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 12 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

6
 15-11-2018

VPE Process (3/5)

• The simplest chemical system for the growth of silicon is the
pyrolytic decomposition of silane

• Can be used to epitaxially grow silicon at 600 - 8000C

• High quality growth at very low pressures
• Particle must achieve a minimum size given by

o U  surface interfacial free energy

o V  atomic volume
o 0  ratio of the pressure of the growth species to the equilibrium
pressure of the growth species (called degree of saturation)

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 13 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

VPE Process (4/5)

• Silicon epitaxy is done by the reduction of chlorosilanes
(SiHxCl4-x, where x = 0, 1, 2, or 3), heavily diluted in hydrogen
• Smaller # of chlorine atoms in the precursor molecule, the lower
the temperature required for the same growth rate.
• SiCl4 is commonly used precursor, but
substrate at >11500C.
• Dichlorosilane (SiH2Cl2 or DCS) is the
most commonly employed source
• For low atomic % of feed gas, primary
components at the growth temperature
are H2, HCl, and dichlorosilylene (SiCl2)
• SiCl2 is primary growth species in most
chlorosilane VPE processes.

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 14 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

7
 15-11-2018

VPE Process (5/5)

• In reaction rate limited regime (hg >>
ks), growth rate is reasonably well fit to

o c1 & c2 show Arrhenius behavior

o -ve term on right is due to chlorine etching
of the substrate
• Etching reaction requires two HCl
molecules

• Degree of supersaturation
•  > 0, vapor is supersaturated,
and under equilibrium conditions,
growth will result
 = 0 - 1 •  >0, system is undersaturated
and etching will result
MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 15 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Problem
For the data shown in Figure, calculate the supersaturation as a
function of SiCl4 concentration. Compare this value to the growth
rate. Does the model predict the peak in the growth rate? Does it
predict the transition to etching?

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 16 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

8
 15-11-2018

Solution
• Growths use SiCl4, ratio of Si/Cl in feed gas is 0.25 for all growths.
• Equilibrium ratio of Si/Cl can be found by first calculating the Cl/H ratio.
• For a 5% mixture, chlorine-to-hydrogen ratio is 0.05 X 4/(0.95 X2) = 0.11
• At growth temperature (12700C = 1543 K), this produces an equilibrium Si/Cl
ratio of 0.14.
• For increasing SiCl4 concentrations, see Table
• The model does indeed predict a change from growth to etching between 20
and 30% SiCl4 due to the large amount of Cl released.

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 17 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

VPE: Surface Reactions

• Epitaxial growth of Si from all of precursors in the Si–H–Cl

system has
o same activation energy in reaction rate limited regime
suggests that same rate limiting process may be involved
for each reaction
MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 18 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

9
 15-11-2018

VPE: Dopant
• Both intentional and unintentional dopants
• Unintentional sources  solid state diffusion from the substrate
and gas phase autodoping.
• Follows a complementary error function dependence if the
growth rate obeys the relation

• Segregation coefficient

Keff < 1  growing film rejects the dopant

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 19 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Liquid Phase Epitaxy

• Precipitation of a crystalline film from a supersaturated melt
on to a substrate.
• Temperature is increased until a phase transition occurs and
then reduced for precipitation.
• By controlling cooling rates the kinetics of layer growth
can be controlled.
• One can have either continuous reduction with the substrate
(equilibrium cooling) or separate reduction in increments
followed by contact with the substrate (step cooling).
• It is a low cost method yielding films of controlled
composition, thickness and lower dislocation densities.
• Disadvantages  rough surfaces and poor thickness
uniformity.

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 20 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

10
 15-11-2018

Hetroepitaxy
• To grow a layer of a different material on top of a substrate
o unmatched lattice parameters
• Cause strained or relaxed growth and can lead to interfacial
defects
• May lead to changes in the electronic, optic, thermal and
mechanical properties of the films.
• Lattice mismatch Film Film

Film

Substrate
Substrate

Substrate
Larger mismatch: film Strain accommodation is impossible
material may strain to then dislocation defects at the
Matched Lattice is accommodate the interface may form leading to
desirable: minimum lattice structure of the relaxed epitaxy and the film returns
defects and large substrate to its original lattice structure
mobility
MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 21 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Molecular Beam Epitaxy

• Established by Günther in 1958 and developed in the late
1960s at Bell Labs by Arthur and Cho.
• Wafer placed by magnetically coupled transfer rod
• Takes place in high
vacuum or ultra-high
vacuum (10−8–10−12 Torr)
• Deposition rate (< 3 µm /
hour) leads to highest
purity of grown films
• Reflection high-energy
electron diffraction
(RHEED) used to monitor
crystal layers growth

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 22 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

11
 15-11-2018

Molecular Beam Epitaxy

• Different elements heated in
separate effusion cells until
they begin to slowly sublime
• Gaseous elements then
condense on the wafer
• Computer controls shutters
for precise control of the
thickness of each layer, down
to a single layer of atoms.
• Can develop, quantum wells,
quantum dots, semiconductor
lasers and light-emitting
diodes.

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 23 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

MBE: System

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 24 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

12
 15-11-2018

MBE: Growth rate

• Growth rate of an MBE system is determined by flux of atoms
leaving the source and the fraction of those atoms that strike the
surface of the wafer and stick

• A  cross-sectional area of the source

• Pe  equilibrium vapor pressure that depends on
the source temperature
• m  atomic mass
• Knudsen cells are designed so that the cross-
sectional area remains nearly constant as the
source is consumed.

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 25 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Problem
Assume that aluminum is being evaporated at 1150 K in a 25 cm2
cell. What is the atomic flux at a distance of 0.5 m if the wafer is
directly above the source? What would the growth rate be?

• Flux at a distance r

• Vapor pressure of Al at 1150 K is about 10-6 torr.

• m = 27X 1.67X 1027 kg, the flux is about 4.8 X 1014 cm2 sec-1
• Growth rate

• Where N is the number density of aluminum (6 X 1022 cm3).

• Then R = 48 A/min.

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 26 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

13
 15-11-2018

MBE: Ups and Downs?

Advantages
• Slow growth rates
• In-situ monitoring of growth
• Extremely easy to prevent introduction of impurities

Disadvantages
• Slow growth rates
• Difficult to evaporate/sublimate some materials and hard to
prevent the evaporation/sublimation of others
• Hard to scale up for multiple wafers
• Expensive

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 27 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy

(MOVPE) / MOCVD
• Invented in 1968 by Harold M. Manasevit.
• CVD method used to produce thin films
• Done in gas phase at 10
to 760 Torr pressure

• Use to form devices incorporating

thermodynamically metastable alloys
• III-V semiconductors with very good
thickness control (quantum well
structures / optoelectronic devices)
• Ultrapure injected gases are finely dosed to deposit a very thin
layer of atoms
• Surface reaction of organic compounds or metalorganics and
hydrides with required chemical elements creates conditions
MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 28 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

14
 15-11-2018

MOVPE / MOCVD System

Advantages
• Less expensive
• Inexpensive Gas
sources
• Faster Growth rates
• Easy to scale up to
multiple wafers

Disadvantages
• Gas sources pose a potential health and safety hazard
• Difficult to grow hyperabrupt layers (wide tuning range)
• Residual gases in chamber
• Higher background impurity concentrations in grown layers

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 29 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Epitaxy Applications
• Engineered wafers
o Clean, flat layer on top of
less ideal Si substrate
o On top of SOI structures
o Ex.: Silicon on sapphire
o Higher purity layer on lower
quality substrate (SiC)

• In CMOS structures
o Layers of different doping
o Ex. p- layer on top of p+
substrate to avoid latch-up

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 30 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

15
 15-11-2018

Epitaxy Applications (more)

• Bipolar Transistor
o Needed to produce
buried layer

http://www.search.com/reference/Bipolar_junction_transistor • III-V Devices

o Interface quality key
o Heterojunction Bipolar
Transistor
o LED
o Laser
http://www.veeco.com/library/elements/images/hbt.jpg

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 31 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Sec XI, L 32 & 33: Epitaxy

• 1 Nov (Thu) & 3 Nov (Sat) 2018

• Learning Objectives
o To understand epitaxy and its use in IC fabrication
process

• Topics covered –
o Vapor phase epitaxy
o Molecular Beam Epitaxy
o SoI
o Epitaxial evaluation

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 32 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

16
 15-11-2018

Sec IX, L 34 & 35: Metallization

• 10 Nov (Sat) & 13 Nov (Tue) 2018

• Learning Objectives
o To understand how devices are connected to the
o outside world

• Topics to be covered –
o Applications
o Choices
o PVD
o Patterning
o Issues
o Summary & Future trends

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 33 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

17