Rapid thermal annealing of neutron transmutation doped silicon

Abstract

Rapid thermal annealing of neutron transmutation doped silicon wafers is shown to be an alternative to the normal furnace annealing procedure. A prototype incoherent light rapid thermal annealing 4.5 kW furnace has been constructed which can raise the temperature of 75mm diameter silicon wafers to 1120°C. Successful annealing is demonstrated by comparing the resistivities of the wafers with those from the furnace annealed standards. Deep level transient spectrometry has been performed to show that there are no electrically active deep level impurities present. Although there is evidence for crystalline slip it does not appear to affect the results.