Characteristics of inductively coupled plasma radio frequency ion sources in commercial ion implanters

In a previous study, the ion density of argon in an evaluation chamber was compared using an inductively coupled plasma radio frequency ion source, and stability was assessed by measuring the temperature characteristics. In this study, the process gas characteristics were evaluated by installing a source on a commercial ion implanter. The new design, when tested on an ion implanter, demonstrated a significant increase in the extraction current, with an improvement of ≥302% compared to an indirectly heated cathode direct-current ion source. To ensure suitability for advanced manufacturing processes, source was optimized to evaluate metal contamination using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. A comparative analysis using secondary ion mass spectrometry with a 15 kV carbon monoxide ion beam revealed no significant difference in measurement depth, confirming comparable performance to conventional sources. Process evaluations for carbon and germanium implantation at the 18 nm technology node did not exhibit any yield problems, confirming that the extrusion current efficiency of the inductively coupled plasma radio frequency ion source was higher than that of the indirectly heated cathode ion source by more than 225% in terms of power consumption.