Synthesis of Buried Compound Layers in Silicon By Ion Implantation

Ion implantation is widely used for doping semiconductors at low concentration, but, with the advent of a new generation of high current implanters, synthesizing new materials rather than simply doping them has becom feasible. This technique has been successfully applied to fabricating silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structures with oxygen and nitrogen for several years. Since we are interested in understanding the mechanisms of formation of these layers, we have concetrated on sub-stoichiometric implantation doses of oxygen where it is easier to observe the coalescing layer.