Method and apparatus for continuous chained energy ion implantation

An ion implantation system configured to provide a selectively variable energy ion beam to a workpiece, the ion implantation system comprising:

• an ion source configured to ionize a dopant material and generate an ion beam;
• an acceleration/deceleration stage configured to receive the ion beam, wherein the acceleration/deceleration stage is configured to selectively vary an energy of the ion beam based on one or more inputs to the acceleration/deceleration stage, thereby defining a plurality of discrete energies of the selectively variable energy ion beam;
• an end station positioned downstream of the acceleration/deceleration stage, wherein the end station comprises a workpiece support configured to selectively position the workpiece before the selectively variable energy ion beam for ion implantation thereby, wherein the workpiece is maintained on the workpiece support within the end station concurrent with the selective variation of the energy of the ion beam;
• a scanning apparatus configured to scan one or more of the ion beam and the workpiece support with respect to one another along a first scan axis and a second scan axis to sequentially and uniformly expose an entirety of the single workpiece to each of the plurality of discrete energies of the selectively variable energy ion beam;
• and
• a thermal apparatus configured to control a temperature of the workpiece at a predetermined processing temperature on the workpiece support, wherein the predetermined process temperature is associated with one of a high temperature configuration of the ion implantation system and a low temperature configuration of the ion implantation system.

An ion implantation system configured to provide a selectively variable energy ion beam to a workpiece, the ion implantation system comprising:

• an ion source configured to ionize a dopant material and generate an ion beam;
• an acceleration/deceleration stage configured to receive the ion beam, wherein the acceleration/deceleration stage is configured to selectively vary an energy of the ion beam based on one or more inputs to the acceleration/deceleration stage thereby defining the selectively variable energy ion beam at a plurality of discrete energies;
• and
• an end station positioned downstream of the acceleration/deceleration stage, wherein end station comprises a workpiece support configured to selectively position the workpiece before the selectively variable energy ion beam for ion implantation thereby, wherein the workpiece is maintained within the end station and continuously exposed to the ion beam concurrent with the selective variation of the energy of the ion beam, and wherein the workpiece support is configured to sequentially and uniformly expose an entirety of the workpiece to each of the plurality of discrete energies of the selectively variable energy ion beam.