A method of producing an epitaxial silicon wafer includes irradiating a surface of a silicon wafer with a beam of cluster ions containing SiH.sub.x ions (at least one of the integers 1 to 3 is selected as x of the SiH.sub.x ions) and C.sub.2H.sub.y ions (at least one of the integers 2 to 5 is selected as y of the C.sub.2H.sub.y ions) to form a modified layer that is located in a surface layer portion of the silicon wafer and that contains as a solid solution of the constituent elements of the cluster ion beam, and further includes forming a silicon epitaxial layer on the modified layer of the silicon wafer. The dose of the SiH.sub.x ions is 1.5×10.sup.14 ions/cm.sup.2 or more.

Provided is an epitaxial wafer having an excellent gettering capability and a suppressed formation of epitaxial defects. The epitaxial wafer has a specified resistivity, and includes a modifying layer formed on a surface portion of the silicon wafer and composed of a predetermined element including at least carbon, in the form of a solid solution in the silicon wafer; and an epitaxial layer having a resistivity that is higher than the resistivity of the silicon wafer, wherein a concentration profile of the predetermined element in the modifying layer in a depth direction thereof meets a specified full width half maximum and a specified peak concentration.

Provided is a semiconductor epitaxial wafer in which the concentration of hydrogen in a modifying layer can be maintained at a high level and the crystallinity of an epitaxial layer is excellent. A semiconductor epitaxial wafer has a semiconductor wafer, a modifying layer formed in a surface portion of the semiconductor wafer, which modifying layer has hydrogen contained as a solid solution in the semiconductor wafer, and an epitaxial layer formed on the modifying layer. The concentration profile of hydrogen in the modifying layer in the thickness direction from a surface of the epitaxial layer is a double peak concentration profile including a first peak shallower in the depth direction and a second peak deeper in the depth direction.

A method for removing amorphous regions from a surface of a crystal substrate uses an accelerated neutral beam including reactive gas species for removing or reactively modifying material surfaces without sputtering. Accelerated neutral atom beam enabled surface reactions remove surface contaminants from substrate surfaces to create an interface region with exposed crystal lattice in preparation for next phase processing.

An apparatus, method and products thereof provide an accelerated neutral beam derived from an accelerated gas cluster ion beam for processing materials.

A method for shallow etching a substrate surface forms a shallow modified substrate layer overlying unmodified substrate using an accelerated neutral beam and etches the modified layer, stopping at the unmodified substrate beneath, producing controlled shallow etched substrate surfaces.

Provided is a method of producing an epitaxial silicon wafer having high gettering capability resulting in even more reduced white spot defects in a back-illuminated solid-state imaging device. The method includes: a first step of irradiating a surface of a silicon wafer with cluster ions of C.sub.nH.sub.m (n=1 or 2, m=1, 2, 3, 4, or 5) generated using a Bernas ion source or an IHC ion source, thereby forming, in the silicon wafer, a modifying layer containing, as a solid solution, carbon and hydrogen that are constituent elements of the cluster ions; and a subsequent second step of forming a silicon epitaxial layer on the surface. In the first step, peaks of concentration profiles of carbon and hydrogen in the depth direction of the modifying layer are made to lie in a range of more than 150 nm and 2000 nm or less from the surface.

A method of forming a method of forming a semiconductor device includes providing a semiconductor structure, etching back each gate structure of a plurality of gate structures to form an opening, forming a barrier layer over the dielectric layer, forming a sacrificial layer over the barrier layer, planarizing the sacrificial layer till a surface of the sacrificial layer is substantially flat, and using a gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) process to planarize the sacrificial layer and the barrier layer, and to remove the sacrificial layer and to provide a planarized barrier layer. The semiconductor structure includes a semiconductor substrate, a fin, the plurality of gate structures, and a dielectric layer over the semiconductor substrate between adjacent gate structures. A top of the dielectric layer is coplanar with a top of each of the plurality of gate structures.

Provided are an epitaxial silicon wafer which can reduce metal contamination by exerting higher gettering capability and a method of manufacturing the same. In a method of manufacturing an epitaxial silicon wafer which includes a silicon wafer, a first silicon epitaxial layer formed on the silicon wafer, a first modifying layer in which carbon is implanted in a surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer, and a second silicon epitaxial layer on the first modifying layer, the peak concentration of the oxygen concentration profile in the first modifying layer after formation of the second silicon epitaxial layer is set to 210.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less and the oxygen concentration of the second silicon epitaxial layer is set to be equal to or less than the SIMS detection lower limit value.

Provided is a method of evaluating the impurity gettering capability of an epitaxial silicon wafer, which allows for very precise evaluation of the impurity gettering behavior of a modified layer formed immediately under an epitaxial layer, the modified layer containing carbon in solid solution. In this method, a modified layer located immediately under an epitaxial layer, the modified layer containing carbon in solid solution, is analyzed by three-dimensional atom probe microscopy, and the impurity gettering capability of the modified layer is evaluated based on a three-dimensional map of carbon in the modified layer, obtained by the analysis.