Diffusion

VLSI Technology

Dr. T. R. Lenka
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering
National Institute of Technology Silchar
 DIFFUSION

❖ It is the process by which controlled amount of impurity is

introduced into the semiconductor.

❖ Physically, subjected a semiconductor at high temperature to an

ambient containing the dopant impurity.

❖ Movement of dopant atom inside the crystal is governed by point

defect hence diffusion is “atomic movement of diffusing
impurities or diffusant in the lattice through vacancies/interstitial
spaces”
❖ As real crystal is not a perfect crystal, there are point
defect in it, (may be interstitial or vacancy).
❖ Hence when crystal is being subjected to ambient
containing the impurity atom, impurity atom moves into
crystal because concentration gradient exists.
❖ Under concentration gradient, impurities move into
crystal.
❖ This movement is governed by existence of point
defect.
❖ Physically speaking, if there are lot of vacancies, easy
for dopant atom to go and occupy these vacant sites.
 DIFFUSION THEORY

❖ As Si is diamond crystal structure, where 34%

occupied by lattice atom, rest 66% is free
interstitial space so impurity atom can move in
between regular array of atoms or can move
through vacancies.
Movement of dopant atom inside crystal lattice can be classified in three
categories

DIFFUSION

INTERSTITIAL
SUBSTITUTION INTERSTITIALCY
Substitutional impurity: Dopant atom can move under presence of
vacancy
❖ Impurities are going to be electronically active, thus modulate the
conductivity of semiconductor
❖ e.g- are P, As.

Interstitial impurity: Impurity is free to move in interstitial space

❖ here movement is unhampered, hence much faster
❖ e.g- are Li,Na,He,Ar

Interstitialcy:
❖ Here dopant atom(normally in interstitial site) pushes a host atom out
of its regular place in the lattice and itself occupies substitutional sites
❖ e.g- boron
FICK’S LAW OF DIFFUSION
 First law

dN
𝐽 = −𝐷
dx

J= FLUX i.e. rate of transter of dopant per unit area

N= concentration of dopant
X= direction in which movement takes place
minus sign is taken as movement takes place from high to
low concentration

❖ Valid for dilute solution

 SECOND LAW

p1 p2

dx

Movement of dopants

A simple crystal structure

 Dopant atom are moving from left to right.
Consider two plane P1 and P2 ,dopant atom crosses P1 and
reaches P2.
In this movement of dopant atom, there is accumulation of
dopant atom in between P1 and P2.

𝑑𝑁/𝑑𝑡= rate at which dopant atom concentration is

changing
A= cross sectional area of plane P1 ,P2
incremental distance is dx
❖ hence
𝑑𝑁/𝑑𝑡 ∗ 𝐴𝑑𝑥
is rate of accumulation of dopant atoms in between these two
planes
and it is equal to change in flux density
At P1, there is one flux.
At P2, there is different flux.
Difference of these two flux multiplied by area is also going to be
rate of accumulation of dopant atom between P1 and P2.
Hence
dN/dt∗Adx=A[J(x)-J(x+dx)]
Or
𝜕𝑗
𝑑𝑁/𝑑𝑡= -[ ] under lim
𝜕𝑥 𝑑𝑥→0

from ficks first law,

dN
𝑑𝑁 𝑑(𝐷 dx )
=
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑥

It is ficks 2nd law of diffusion

 DIFFUSION PROFILES

Based on whether D is constant or

concentration dependent, doping profile
can be defined.
 Suppose D is constant

1. One possibility is infinite source of

diffusion(predeposition).

2. Constant total impurity(drive in).

 PREDEPOSITION

❖ Here surface concentration is always constant

❖ Surface concentration is never allowed to fall from

solid solubility.
Derivation for surface concentration in case of
predeposition

Initial condition at t = 0 is
C(x, 0) = 0 which states that the dopant concentration in the
host semiconductor is initially zero

Boundary conditions
C(0, t) = Cs and C( ,t ) = 0
❖ Cs is the surface concentration (at x = 0) which is independent of time.
Second boundary condition states that at large distances from
the surface, there are no impurity atoms. The solution of the
differential equation that satisfies the initial and boundary conditions is
given by:

x
C ( x, t ) = C0 erfc ( )
2 Dt

erfc stands for the complementary error function, Dt is the diffusion length,
x is the distance, D is the diffusion coefficient, and t is the diffusion time.
Diffusion profiles. (a) Normalized complementary error function
(erfc) versus distance for successive diffusion times.
 Constant-Total-Dopant Diffusion (Drive in)

Boundary conditions

C(x,t)=0 (concentration at large distance from source ) (1)



(2)  C dx
0
= Q

Initial condition: 𝐶 𝑥, 0 = 0

When we solve differential equation subjected to boundary condition, we get

Q  − x2 
C ( x, t ) = exp  
 Dt  4 Dt 
Q
At x = 0; C[0, t ] = Cs =
 Dt
Fig 2. Normalized Gaussian function versus distance
for successive times.
 DUAL DIFFUSION PROCESS

❑ The dual diffusion process is a two step diffusion process.

❑ Firstly, a predeposition diffusion layer is formed under a constant-

surface-concentration condition.

❑ Secondly, a drive-in diffusion or redistribution under a constant-total-

dopant condition occurs.

❑ The diffusion length for the predeposition diffusion is much smaller

than that for the drive-in condition .

❑ The predeposition profile can be treated as a delta function at the

surface.
 NUMERICAL ON DUAL DIFFUSION PROCESS

EXAMPLE NO.1

(a) A predeposition process is carried out for 15 minutes on an n-type

silicon wafer with a phosphorus dopant concentration of 1017 atoms/cm3 at
950oC using diborane gas. Assuming intrinsic diffusion, determine the
junction depth. At 950oC the boron saturation concentration is 3.8 x 1020
atoms/cm3 and the boron diffusion constant is 1.5 x 10-15 cm2/s.
(b) After the initial predeposition process described in (a), the sample
undergoes a drive-in diffusion for 1 hour at 1250oC. What is the final
junction depth? At 1250oC, the boron diffusion constant is 1.2 x 10-12
cm2/s.
FIG A: NORMALIZED CONCENTRATION VERSUS NORMALIZED DISTANCE
FOR THE ERFC AND GAUSSIAN FUNCTIONS.
SOLUTION

(a) The junction depth is determined by the point of transition from p-type
to n-type silicon. For a predeposition process, the diffusion behavior is
given by the complementary error function. Therefore, the junction
depth, xj, is determined by:
 xj 
C ( x j , t ) = Cs erfc   = 10
17

 2 Dt 
 xj  1017 −4
erfc   = = 2.63  10
 2 Dt  3.8  10 20

C −4
xj
from fig ( A), for = 2.63 10 , = 2.6
Cs 2 Dt
Thus, x j = 2.6  2  (1.5 10−15 )(900) = 6.04 10−6 cm or 0.06  m.
(b)
The total integrated dose, S, in the predeposition process is:
2 2
S= Cs Dt = (3.8 1020 ) 1.5 10−15 (900) = 5 1014
 1.77

Since the drive-in time and temperature (D1250C >> D950C) is much larger
than those in the predeposition process, the boron distribution resulting
from the predeposition can be assumed to be a delta function. For the
drive-in process, the dopant profile is given by the Gaussian distribution:

S  − x2 
C ( x, t ) = exp  .
 Dt  4 Dt 
 5 10
14
 −x j 
Thus, 10 =17
exp  −12 
 (1.2 10 )(3600)
−12
 4(1.2 10 )(3600) 
 −x j 
10 = 4.3 10 exp 
17 18
−8 
1.7 10 
−2  −x j 
2.3 10 = e xp  −8 
1.7 10 
−xj
−3.76 =
1.7 10−8
Thus, x j = 2.5 x 10 cm or 2.5 m .
-4
 EXTRINSIC DIFFUSION

❑ Diffusion that occurs when the doping concentration is lower than the

intrinsic carrier concentration, ni, at the diffusion temperature is called

intrinsic diffusion.

❑ However, when the dopant concentration exceeds ni the process

becomes extrinsic or extrinsic diffusion.

Donor impurity diffusion coefficient versus electron concentration
showing regions of intrinsic and extrinsic diffusion.
❑ When a host atom acquires sufficient energy and leaves
its lattice site, a vacancy is created. Depending on the
charges associated with the vacancy, we can have:
(1) a neutral vacancy, Vo,

(2) an acceptor vacancy, V-,

(3) a doubly-charged acceptor vacancy, V2-,

(4) a donor vacancy, V+,

(5) and others.

❑ The vacancy density of a given charge state (i.e., the number of
vacancies per unit volume) has a temperature dependence similar to
that of the carrier density:

EF − Ei
Cv = Ci e KT

where Cv is the vacancy density, Ci is the intrinsic vacancy density, EF

is the Fermi level, and Ei is the intrinsic Fermi level.
❑ If the dopant diffusion is dominated by the vacancy
mechanism, the diffusion coefficient is expected to be
proportional to the vacancy density.

❑ At low doping concentrations (n < ni), the Fermi level

coincides with the intrinsic Fermi level (i.e., EF = Ei).

❑ The vacancy density is equal to Ci and independent of the

dopant concentration.

❑ The diffusion coefficient, which is proportional to Ci, will

also be independent of doping concentration.
❑ At high doping concentrations (n > ni), the Fermi level will move

toward the conduction band edge for donor-type vacancies, and the

term exp(EF-Ei/kT) becomes larger than unity.

❑ This causes Cv to increase, which in turn gives rise to enhanced

diffusion.

❑ The diffusion coefficient can be written as:

D=Ds(C/Cs)Ƴ where Ds is the diffusion coefficient at the surface, Cs is

the surface concentration, and γ is a positive integer.

❑ Using fick’s second law of diffusion:


C    C  C 
=  Ds   
t x   Cs  x 
 

❑ Above Equation can be solved numerically, and the solutions for

constant-surface-concentration diffusion .
❑ For concentration-dependent diffusion, the diffusion profiles are much

steeper at low concentrations (C << CS).

❑ Thus, highly abrupt junctions can be formed when diffusion is made

into a background of an opposite impurity type.

❑ In fact, the abruptness of the doping profile results in a junction depth

is virtually independent of the background concentration.

Normalized diffusion profiles for extrinsic diffusion where the
diffusion coefficient becomes concentration dependent.