Impact of carbon co-implantation on boron distribution and activation in silicon studied by atom probe tomography and spreading resistance measurements

The impact of carbon (C) co-implantation on boron (B) activation in crystalline silicon was investigated. The detailed distribution of B and C atoms and B activation ratios dependent on the C ion-implantation energies were examined based on three-dimensional spatial mappings of B and C obtained by atom probe tomography and from depth profiles of their concentrations from secondary ion mass spectrometry and depth profiles of carrier concentrations with spreading resistance measurements. At all C implantation energies (8, 15, and 30 keV), B out-diffusion during activation annealing was reduced, so that more B atoms were observed in the C co-implanted samples. The carrier concentration was decreased throughout the entire implanted region for C implantation energies of 15 and 30 keV, although it was only increased at greater depths for C co-implantation at 8 keV. Two different effects of C co-implantation, (I) reduction of B out-diffusion and (II) influence of B activation, were confirmed.