Method of manufacturing epitaxial silicon wafer, epitaxial silicon wafer, and method of manufacturing solid-state image sensing device
10872768 ยท 2020-12-22
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
H01L21/20
ELECTRICITY
H01L29/16
ELECTRICITY
H01L21/02694
ELECTRICITY
H01L21/322
ELECTRICITY
H01L21/0262
ELECTRICITY
International classification
H01L21/02
ELECTRICITY
H01L21/322
ELECTRICITY
H01L29/16
ELECTRICITY
H01L21/20
ELECTRICITY
Abstract
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.
Claims
1. A method of manufacturing an epitaxial silicon wafer, comprising: forming a first silicon epitaxial layer having a surface layer portion with an oxygen concentration of 210.sup.16 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less on a silicon wafer that has an oxygen concentration of 210.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 or more: irradiating the surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer with first ions containing carbon to form in the surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer a first modifying layer in which the carbon is implanted; and forming a second silicon epitaxial layer on the first modifying layer, wherein after the forming the second silicon epitaxial layer, the epitaxial silicon wafer is obtained wherein a peak concentration of an oxygen concentration profile in the first modifying layer is 210.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less, and an oxygen concentration of the second silicon epitaxial layer is 210.sup.16 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less, and wherein a thickness of the first silicon epitaxial layer is adjusted according to the oxygen concentration of the silicon wafer such that the surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer has an oxygen concentration of 210.sup.16 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first ions are cluster ions which contain carbon as a constituent element.
3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, before the forming the first silicon epitaxial layer, irradiating the silicon wafer with second ions containing carbon to form in a surface layer portion of the silicon wafer a second modifying layer in which the carbon is implanted, such that the surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer before the irradiating the surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer has an oxygen concentration of 210.sup.16 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the second ions are cluster ions which contain carbon as a constituent element.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first silicon epitaxial layer has a dopant concentration that is equal to or less than a dopant concentration of the second silicon epitaxial layer.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the first silicon epitaxial layer is not doped with a dopant.
7. An epitaxial silicon wafer comprising: a silicon wafer that has an oxygen concentration of 210.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 or more; a first silicon epitaxial layer formed on the silicon wafer; a first modifying layer in which carbon is implanted, the first modifying layer being formed in a surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer; and a second silicon epitaxial layer formed on the first modifying layer, wherein a thickness of the first silicon epitaxial layer is configured such that a peak concentration of an oxygen concentration profile in the first modifying layer is 210.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less and an oxygen concentration of the second silicon epitaxial layer is 210.sup.16 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less.
8. The epitaxial silicon wafer according to claim 7, wherein the first silicon epitaxial layer has a dopant concentration that is equal to or less than a dopant concentration of the second silicon epitaxial layer.
9. The epitaxial silicon wafer according to claim 8, wherein the first silicon epitaxial layer is not doped with a dopant.
10. A method of manufacturing a solid-state image sensing device, comprising: forming a solid-state image sensing device in the second silicon epitaxial layer of the epitaxial silicon wafer manufactured by the method according to claim 1.
11. A method of manufacturing a solid-state image sensing device, comprising: forming a solid-state image sensing device in the second silicon epitaxial layer of the epitaxial silicon wafer according to claim 7.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) In the accompanying drawings:
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
(7) Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In principle, like elements are denoted by like reference numerals and redundant description thereof is not provided. In
(8) (Method of Manufacturing Epitaxial Silicon Wafer)
(9)
(10) First, referring to
(11) Examples of the silicon wafer 10 include bulk monocrystalline silicon wafers with no silicon epitaxial layer on the surface. Bulk monocrystalline silicon wafers are generally suitable for the manufacture of back-illuminated solid-state image sensing devices. From the viewpoint of reducing the diffusion of oxygen into the first and second silicon epitaxial layers 12, 16, the silicon wafer 10 preferably has an oxygen concentration of 1810.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less, more preferably 810.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less. However, from the viewpoint of reducing the occurrence of slip and dislocation during epitaxial growth, the silicon wafer 10 preferably has an oxygen concentration of 210.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 or more. A silicon wafer that has an oxygen concentration range falling within the range described above can be prepared by slicing, using a wire saw or other tool, a monocrystalline silicon ingot obtained by the Czochralski method (CZ method), which is commonly used in the art. Of note, in the present disclosure, it is possible to reduce the oxygen concentration of the device layer to the SIMS detection lower limit or less by the method described later without having to use a low-oxygen silicon wafer having an oxygen concentration of 110.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less.
(12) Carbon and/or nitrogen may be doped into the silicon wafer 10 in order to obtain higher gettering capability. Further, the silicon wafer 10 may be made n-type or p-type by doping with any dopant.
(13) The first and second silicon epitaxial layers 12, 16 can be formed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) under general conditions. For example, using hydrogen as a carrier gas, a source gas such as dichlorosilane or trichlorosilane gas can be introduced into a chamber for epitaxial growth by CVD at about 1,000 C. to 1,150 C. The second silicon epitaxial layer 16 becomes a device layer for manufacturing a back-illuminated solid-state image sensing device.
(14) The second silicon epitaxial layer 16 may be made n-type or p-type by doping with any dopant, with the dopant concentration being preferably 910.sup.13 atoms/cm.sup.3 to 110's atoms/cm.sup.3. It is preferred that the dopant concentration of the first silicon epitaxial layer 12 is equal to or less than the dopant concentration of the second silicon epitaxial layer 16. It is more preferred that the first silicon epitaxial layer 12 is a silicon epitaxial layer which is not doped with a dopant because it is possible to prevent the gettering sites formed in the first modifying layer 14 from being occupied by the dopant and hence higher gettering capability can be achieved.
(15) From the viewpoint of securing a region for forming a back-illuminated solid-state sensing device, it is preferred that the thickness of the second silicon epitaxial layer 16 ranges from 2 m to 10 m. Details of the thickness of the first silicon epitaxial layer 12 will be described later.
(16) Next, the first modifying layer that functions as a gettering layer in the present disclosure will be described. In the present embodiment, as shown in
(17) When carbon-containing monomer ions are to be applied as the first ions, the monomer ions are implanted at a depth within a predetermined distance from the surface of the first silicon epitaxial layer. The depth of implantation depends on the type of the constituent element of the monomer ions and the acceleration voltage of the monomer ions. In this case, the first silicon epitaxial layer shows a relatively broad carbon concentration profile in the depth direction and the carbon-implanted region (i.e., first modifying layer) has a thickness of approximately 0.5 m to 1 m. Herein, the surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer which becomes the first modifying layer is a region approximately 0.5 m to 1 m from the surface of the first silicon epitaxial layer when monomer ions are applied.
(18) Monomer ions may be implanted multiple times to implant different types of elements. In particular, in addition to carbon, it is preferred to apply one or more dopant elements selected from the group consisting of boron, phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony. Because different elements trap different impurity metals efficiently, implantation of two or more different elements including carbon allows a broader spectrum of impurity metals to be efficiently trapped. For example, carbon can efficiently trap nickel, whereas boron can efficiently trap copper and iron.
(19) The accelerating voltage of monomer ions generally ranges from 150 to 2,000 keV/atom and may be set as appropriate within this range. The dose of monomer ions is also not particularly limited and can be 110.sup.13 atoms/cm.sup.2 to 110.sup.16 atoms/cm.sup.2, for example.
(20) Referring to
(21) The cluster ions 18 to be applied contain carbon as a constituent element. Carbon atoms at lattice sites have a small covalent bond radius compared to silicon single crystals, so that a compression field is produced in the silicon crystal lattice, which results in high gettering capability for attracting impurities between lattices.
(22) It is more preferred that the cluster ions 18 contain as constituent elements two or more different elements, including carbon. In particular, in addition to carbon, it is preferred to apply one or more dopant elements selected from the group consisting of boron, phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony. Because different elements to be deposited trap different impurity metals efficiently, solidly dissolving two or more different elements including carbon makes it possible to address a wider spectrum of metal contaminations.
(23) For example, carbon can efficiently trap nickel, whereas boron can efficiently trap copper and iron.
(24) Compounds to be ionized are not particularly limited. Examples of ionizable carbon source compounds include ethane, methane, propane, benzyl (C.sub.7H.sub.7), and carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2), and examples of boron source compounds include diborane and decaborane (B.sub.10H.sub.14). For example, when a mixed gas of benzyl and decaborane is used as a material gas, a hydrogen compound cluster can be produced in which carbon, boron and hydrogen are gathered together. Alternatively, when cyclohexane (C.sub.6H.sub.12) is used as a material gas, cluster ions formed from carbon and hydrogen can be produced. In particular, as a carbon source compound, it is preferred to use cluster C.sub.nH.sub.m (3n16, 3m10) produced from pyrene (C.sub.16H.sub.10), dibenzyl (C.sub.14H.sub.14) or the like because a small sized cluster ion beam can be easily controlled.
(25) Next, by controlling the acceleration voltage and the cluster size of the cluster ions, the peak position of the concentration profile of the constituent element in the depth direction of the first modifying layer 14 can be controlled. The term cluster size herein means the number of atoms or molecules constituting one cluster.
(26) From the viewpoint of obtaining higher gettering capability, it is preferred that cluster ions are applied such that the peak of the carbon concentration profile in the first modifying layer 14 lies at a depth within 150 nm from the surface 12A of the first silicon epitaxial layer. The peak concentration of the carbon concentration profile is preferably 3.810.sup.18 atoms/cm.sup.3 to 1.210.sup.20 atoms/cm.sup.3.
(27) As a condition required to set the peak position to fall within the depth range described above, the acceleration voltage of the cluster ions is set to higher than 0 keV/Cluster and less than 100 keV/Cluster, preferably at 80 keV/Cluster or less, more preferably 60 keV/Cluster or less. Further, the cluster size is set to 2 to 100 atoms or molecules, preferably 60 atoms or molecules or less, more preferably 50 atoms or molecules or less.
(28) The dose of cluster ions can be adjusted by controlling irradiation time. In particular, the carbon dose is preferably set to 210.sup.14 atoms/cm.sup.2 to 110.sup.15 atoms/cm.sup.2. A carbon dose of 210.sup.14 atoms/cm.sup.2 or more allows oxygen diffusing from the silicon wafer 10 to the first silicon epitaxial layer 12 to be sufficiently trapped. A carbon dose of 110.sup.15 atoms/cm.sup.2 or less can reduce damage to the surface 12A of the first silicon epitaxial layer.
(29) A key aspect of the present disclosure is to obtain, after the third step (
(30) The inventors focused on the peak concentration of the oxygen concentration profile in the first modifying layer and made extensive studies. As a result, they discovered that there is a remarkable increase in the gettering capability when 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 reduced to the SIMS detection lower limit value or less. The following describes a possible reason for this.
(31) The first modifying layer includes gettering sites formed by irradiation with first ions. If the first modifying layer has a high oxygen concentration, most of the gettering sites are undesirably occupied by oxygen atoms. If oxygen atoms occupy most of the gettering sites, the gettering capability decreases as the gettering sites cannot completely trap metals. In contrast, according to the present disclosure, there is a significant increase in the gettering capability because the present disclosure makes it possible to reduce the number of oxygen atoms that occupy the gettering sites by setting the peak concentration of the oxygen concentration profile in the first modifying layer to 210.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less. This also sufficiently reduces the diffusion of oxygen from the silicon wafer 10, so that the oxygen concentration of the second silicon epitaxial layer can also be reduced to the SIMS detection lower limit or less.
(32) As a result of further studies conducted by the inventors, it was found that it is important to make the oxygen concentration in a surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer when applying carbon-containing first ions equal to or less than the SIMS detection lower limit value in order to set the peak concentration of the oxygen concentration profile in the first modifying layer to 210.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less and to set the oxygen concentration of the second silicon epitaxial layer (to be a device layer) to 210.sup.16 atoms/cm.sup.3 or less (SIMS detection lower limit value or less).
(33) Referring to
(34) Referring to
(35) First, a proper oxygen diffusion coefficient can be set considering the epitaxial growth condition. Next, based on this diffusion coefficient of oxygen, as shown in
(36) Next, referring to
(37) In the present embodiment, first, the silicon wafer 10 is irradiated with cluster ions 20 (second ions) containing carbon as a constituent element to form in a surface layer portion of the silicon wafer 10 a second modifying layer 22 in which the carbon is solidly dissolved (
(38) From the viewpoint of enhancing the gettering capability of the second modifying layer 22, as the second ions, it is preferred to use cluster ions which contain carbon as a constituent element. Of note, irradiation conditions for the second ions can be the same as those for the first ions. In the second embodiment, the thickness of the first silicon epitaxial layer 12 is not particularly limited but is preferably 1 m to 10 m.
(39) Thus, in the second embodiment, diffusion of oxygen present in the silicon wafer 10 into the first silicon epitaxial layer 12 can be reduced because the second modifying layer 22 formed in the surface layer portion of the silicon wafer 10 functions as a gettering layer for trapping the oxygen diffusing from the silicon wafer 10. As a result, it is possible to make the oxygen concentration in the surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer 12 before the second step equal to or less than the SIMS detection lower limit value.
(40) A method of making the oxygen concentration in a surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer 12 equal to or less than the SIMS detection lower limit value has been described above for the first and second embodiments. It is noted, however, that any method can be used to make the oxygen concentration in the surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer 12 equal to or less than the SIMS detection lower limit value. For example, before the first step of forming the first silicon epitaxial layer, the silicon wafer may be subjected to oxygen out-diffusion heat treatment to form an oxygen out-diffusion layer in a surface layer portion of the silicon wafer. The following describes oxygen out-diffusion heat treatment.
(41) By performing oxygen out-diffusion heat treatment, oxygen present in the surface layer portion of the silicon wafer is diffused outwardly (i.e., to the outside of the silicon wafer). This results in the formation of an oxygen out-diffusion layer having a lower oxygen concentration than the central portion of the silicon layer in the surface layer portion of the silicon wafer. Any condition can be used for the oxygen out-diffusion heat treatment as long as the oxygen concentration in the surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer can be reduced to the SIMS detection lower limit value or less. Specifically, oxygen out-diffusion heat treatment is performed in the temperature range of 1100 C. to 1250 C. for 1 hour to 5 hours. The oxygen out-diffusion heat treatment can be performed in any or known heat treatment furnace.
(42) (Epitaxial Silicon Wafer)
(43) Referring to
(44) The oxygen concentration of the silicon wafer 10 is preferably 210.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 to 1810.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3. The peak concentration of the carbon concentration profile in the first modifying layer 14 is preferably 3.810.sup.18 atoms/cm.sup.3 to 1.210.sup.20 atoms/cm.sup.3. The dopant concentration of the first silicon epitaxial layer 12 is preferably equal to or less than the dopant concentration of the second silicon epitaxial layer 16, and the first silicon epitaxial layer 12 is preferably a silicon epitaxial layer which is not doped with a dopant. The reasons for these are as discussed above.
(45) Thus, according to the epitaxial silicon wafers 100, 200 of the present embodiments, it is possible to reduce metal contamination by exerting high gettering capability.
(46) (Method of Manufacturing Solid-State Image Sensing Device)
(47) A method of manufacturing a solid-state image sensing device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure involves formation of a solid-state image sensing device in the second silicon epitaxial layer 16 of the epitaxial silicon wafer 100, 200 manufactured by the method described above or of the epitaxial silicon wafer 100, 200 described above. Solid-state image sensing devices obtained by this manufacturing method are more sensitive and produce less white spot defects than conventional ones.
(48) The present disclosure has been described based on representative embodiments, which however shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure.
EXAMPLES
Inventive Example
(49) A silicon wafer (300 mm across and 725 m thick) having an oxygen concentration (ASTM F121-1979) of 1410.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 was prepared from a CZ monocrystalline silicon ingot.
(50) Next, the silicon wafer was transferred into a single wafer processing epitaxial growth apparatus (Applied Materials, Inc.) and subjected to hydrogen baking at 1,120 C. for 30 seconds in the apparatus. A first silicon epitaxial layer of 8 m thickness was then epitaxially grown on the silicon wafer by CVD at 1,150 C. using hydrogen as a carrier gas and trichlorosilane as a source gas. The oxygen concentration of the first silicon epitaxial layer in a region of 500 nm from the surface was not greater than the SIMS detection lower limit (2.010.sup.16 atoms/cm.sup.3) as measured by SIMS. Of note, the first silicon epitaxial layer was not doped with a dopant.
(51) Next, C.sub.3H.sub.5 cluster ions generated from cyclohexane using a cluster ion generator (Nissin Ion Equipment Co., Ltd., model: CLARIS) were applied to the surface of the first silicon epitaxial layer at a carbon dose of 1.010.sup.15 atoms/cm.sup.2 at an acceleration voltage of 80 keV/Cluster to convert a surface layer portion of the first silicon epitaxial layer into a first modifying layer.
(52) Next, a second silicon epitaxial layer (thickness: 8 m, dopant type: phosphorus, dopant concentration: 910.sup.13 atoms/cm.sup.3) was formed on the first modifying layer by the same method as that used for the formation of the first silicon epitaxial layer.
(53) A carbon concentration profile was measured by SIMS. The first modifying layer was able to be identified by confirming the presence of a steep peak in the range of 80 nm from the surface of the first silicon epitaxial layer. The peak value of the carbon concentration profile in the first silicon epitaxial layer was 110.sup.20 atoms/cm.sup.3.
Comparative Example 1
(54) An epitaxial silicon wafer was obtained by the same manufacturing method as in Inventive Example except that the surface of the silicon wafer was irradiated with cluster ions without forming the first silicon epitaxial layer.
Comparative Example 2
(55) An epitaxial silicon wafer was obtained by the same manufacturing method as in Inventive Example except that the thickness of the first silicon epitaxial layer was set to 0.5 m. The oxygen concentration of the first silicon epitaxial layer in a region of 500 nm from the surface before irradiation with cluster ions was 710.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3 as measured by SIMS.
Comparative Example 3
(56) An epitaxial silicon wafer was obtained by the same manufacturing method as in Inventive Example except that the thickness of the first silicon epitaxial layer was set to 6.0 m. The oxygen concentration of the first silicon epitaxial layer in a region of 500 nm from the surface before irradiation with cluster ions was 310.sup.16 atoms/cm.sup.3 as measured by SIMS.
(57) (Evaluation Method)
(58) In Inventive Example and Comparative Examples, the following evaluation was made.
(59) <Oxygen Concentration Distribution Measured by SIMS>
(60) In Inventive Example and Comparative Examples, the oxygen concentration after formation of the second silicon epitaxial layer was measured by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The measurement results are shown in
(61) <Evaluation of Gettering Capability>
(62) The surface of the epitaxial silicon wafer samples prepared in Inventive Example and Comparative Examples 1 to 3 was intentionally contaminated with an Fe-contaminated liquid (110.sup.13 atoms/cm.sup.2) by the spin coat contamination method, and subsequently heated at 1,050 C. for 2 hours. The Fe concentration was then measured by SIMS. Peak concentrations of concentration profiles of Fe trapped in the first modifying layer for Inventive Example and Comparative Examples are shown in
(63) (Explanation of Evaluation Results)
(64) First, in Comparative Examples 1 to 3, as shown in
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
(65) According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide an epitaxial silicon wafer which can reduce metal contamination by exerting higher gettering capability, and a method of manufacturing the same.
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST
(66) 100, 200 Epitaxial silicon wafer 10 Silicon wafer 10A Silicon wafer surface 12 First silicon epitaxial layer 12A First silicon epitaxial layer surface 14 First modifying layer 16 Second silicon epitaxial layer 18 Carbon-containing cluster ions (first ions) 20 Carbon-containing cluster ions (second ions) 22 Second modifying layer