A Review of Silicon-On-Insulator Formation by Oxygen Ion Implantation

Abstract

Silicon-on-Insulator structures will be an important technological advance used in future VLSI, VHSIC and threedimensional integrated circuits. The most mature SOI technology other than silicon-on-sapphire is SIMOX, or Separation by Implanted Oxygen. High energy oxygen ions are implanted into single crystal silicon until a stoichiometric buried silicon dioxide layer is formed. After implantation, the material is annealed at high temperature to remove implantation induced defects. The structure is completed by the growth of a thin epitaxial silicon layer. Devices and complex circuits have been successfully fabricated by several research groups. This paper reviews the development of this buried oxide SOI technology from 1973 to 1983. The five major sections discuss the advantages of SOI, the basics of buried oxide formation, the literature published between 1973 and 1983, key issues that must be solved before large scale implementation takes place and, finally, predictions of future developments.