Gas-phase doping method using germanium-containing additive

Abstract

A germanium-containing compound may be used as an additive to dopant source gas to improve the direct GPD (Gas-Phase Doping) processes. This invention involves a gas-phase doping method for semiconductor wafers, including the steps of providing a semiconductor wafer, and exposing the surface of the wafer to a process medium comprising a dopant gas in order to dope the surface of the wafer, wherein the process medium also comprises a germanium-containing compound gas. Preferably, the process medium also comprises a carrier gas, where the carrier gas is hydrogen. The germanium-containing gas can be germane, digermane, or other suitable germanium-containing compound. The wafer and dopant gas may also be exposed to a plasma source, and the wafer may be heated in a rapid thermal processing reactor. Some advantages over conventional GPD processes include faster desorption of byproducts and incorporation of dopant atoms, shallower junctions, shorter cycle times, and lower processing temperatures.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.