Depth profiling of energetic Au ions inside P-type Si 10 0 substrate

Gold implanted silicon substrates are widely used for the fabrication of microelectronic devices, such as detectors for infrared imaging applications, optoelectronic devices as well as for synthesis of implanted nano-particles. The continuous down scaling of physical size of these devices motivated us to develop methodologies for the reliable depth profile studies of various implanted ion species using sensitive and non-destructive methods. In this article, we present depth profile studies for gold ions implanted in silicon substrates using simultaneous X-ray reflectivity and grazing incidence X-ray fluorescence measurements. Results obtained using the XRR-GIXRF studies were found to be fairly consistent with the experimental measurements of secondary ion mass spectrometry. Furthermore, it was noticed that energetic gold ions cause substantial amorphization of crystalline Si material in the vicinity of implanted region, which was confirmed using the GIXRD measurements. Ion implantation also induces large surface modifications and roughness effects on the top of the silicon substrate, as revealed from atomic force microscope measurements.

Automated summary

Gold ion implantation in silicon substrates is widely used in microelectronics, with research indicating significant effects on both the crystalline structure and surface of the silicon material.