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Improving dopant incorporation during femtosecond-laser doping of Si with a Se thin-film dopant precursor

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Abstract

We study the dopant incorporation processes during thin-film fs-laser doping of Si and tailor the dopant distribution through optimization of the fs-laser irradiation conditions. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and profilometry are used to study the interrelated dopant incorporation and surface texturing mechanisms during fs-laser irradiation of Si coated with a Se thin-film dopant precursor. We show that the crystallization of Se-doped Si and micrometer-scale surface texturing are closely coupled and produce a doped surface that is not conducive to device fabrication. Next, we use this understanding of the dopant incorporation process to decouple dopant crystallization from surface texturing by tailoring the irradiation conditions. A low-fluence regime is identified in which a continuous surface layer of doped crystalline material forms in parallel with laser-induced periodic surface structures over many laser pulses. This investigation demonstrates the ability to tailor the dopant distribution through a systematic investigation of the relationship between fs-laser irradiation conditions, microstructure, and dopant distribution.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge valuable discussions with Kasey Phillips. This work was supported by the Chesonis Family Foundation, the National Science Foundation (NSF) ERC-QESST (EEC-1041895), and NSF awards CBET 0754227 and CHE-DMR-DMS 0934480. This research was also made with additional support through the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship, 32 CFR 168a, and the R.J. McElroy Trust. We acknowledge valuable use of MIT CMSE Shared Experimental Facilities, under MIT NSF MRSEC grant # DMR-08-19762, and the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems (CNS), a member of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), which is supported by NSF Award No. ECS-0335765.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Matthew J. Smith & Silvija Gradečak

  2. Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Meng-Ju Sher & Eric Mazur

  3. School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Benjamin Franta, Yu-Ting Lin & Eric Mazur

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  1. Matthew J. Smith
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  2. Meng-Ju Sher
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  3. Benjamin Franta
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  4. Yu-Ting Lin
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  5. Eric Mazur
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  6. Silvija Gradečak
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Correspondence to Matthew J. Smith.

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Smith, M.J., Sher, MJ., Franta, B. et al. Improving dopant incorporation during femtosecond-laser doping of Si with a Se thin-film dopant precursor. Appl. Phys. A 114, 1009–1016 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-013-7673-8

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