Diffusion Processes in Semiconductor Structures During Microwave Annealing

We present the results of experimental studies of the influence of microwave radiation on the diffusion processes in two different semiconductor materials, namely, InGaAs heterostructures with quantum wells and boron-ion implanted silicon. The experiments were performed in a 30 GHz gyrotron device for microwave processing of materials. We compare the results of heterostructure annealing under microwave and thermal heating. It is found that under microwave heating, the coefficient of In–Ga interdiffusion in InGaAs heterostructures is about an order of magnitude smaller than that under thermal heating at the same temperatures, while the activation energy of diffusion is approximately the same for both heating regimes. In boron-ion implanted silicon, the sheet resistance after annealing at a higher microwave power turns out to be lower than that after annealing at the same temperature and a lower power. This indicates that the microwave field exerts a nonthermal effect on electric activation of dopant atoms. The results show the possibility of optimization of the microwave-annealing regimes to obtain the maximum electric activation at a limited diffusion spreading of the density profile of implanted atoms.