Back to results
US 2010/0072401 A1Published application
Hydrogen ion implanter using a broad beam source
AssigneeTwin Creeks Technologies, Inc.
InventorsThomas Parrill, Victor Benveniste
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Ion implanters incorporating multibeam ion sources are used to meet process dose and energy demands associated with fabricating a thin lamina for use in photovoltaic devices. The thin lamina are formed by ion implantation followed by cleaving.
Claims25
A method of making a lamina for fabricating a photovoltaic device, the method comprising:
- providing a semiconductor wafer;
- configuring an appliance to hold the wafer;
- configuring an ion source to supply hydrogen or helium ions in beamlets;
- installing the semiconductor wafer in the appliance;
- operating the ion source to generate a plurality of ion beamlets;
- directing the plurality of ion beamlets toward the appliance in a beam constituting a current of at least 20 mA of hydrogen or helium ions, thereby implanting the directed ion beamlets in the wafer at a depth defining a cleave plane;
- and
- annealing the wafer to effect cleaving of a lamina from the wafer at the cleave plane, the lamina being at least 1 μm thick and suitable for use in a photovoltaic device.
5 more elements
An ion implanter configured to implant ions in semiconductor wafers, comprising:
- an appliance comprising a partition having an interior side and pads, configured to hold respective semiconductor wafers having respective front surfaces, disposed on the interior side;
- an ion train disposed to direct an ion beam constituting a current of 5 mA of ions, having respective energies of at least 200 keV, toward the interior side;
- and
- a control system configured to rotate the partition about an axis equidistant from the respective front surfaces of the wafers, thereby successively passing the front surfaces of the wafers through the beam.
1 more element
An ion implanter configured to implant ions in semiconductor wafers, comprising:
- a disk having a radius and bearing pads, configured to hold respective semiconductor wafers;
- an ion train disposed to direct an ion beam at the disk, the ion beam having a varying width, perpendicular to the radius, proportional to the reciprocal of radial position on the disk;
- and
- a control system configured to rotate the disk about an axis, fixed in space.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.