Annealing performance improvement of elongated inductively coupled plasma torch and its application to recovery of plasma-induced Si substrate damage

The annealing performance of an elongated inductively coupled plasma (ICP) torch that enables instantaneous thermal processing over a large area has been improved by using a ceramic chamber that ensures better mechanical and thermal properties than a quartz chamber, realizing a substrate temperature higher than 1,600 K. Si wafers damaged by the bombardment of ions from Ar plasma were irradiated by the ICP torch for recovery. The thickness of the damaged layer was monitored by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), and the changes in Si crystal structure were examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Significant decreases in damaged layer thickness and TEM contrast, which corresponds to the degree of damage, were observed after the ICP torch irradiation.