Effect of Hydrogen Implantation on SIMOX SOI Materials

Hydrogen ions were implanted into separation by implantation of oxygen (SIMOX) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers near the oxygen-implantation-induced damage peak under different conditions of energy and dose. It was found that the implanted hydrogen ions not only accelerate the diffusion of oxygen atoms from the annealing ambience into the wafer but also cause an outward diffusion of oxygen atoms in the buried oxide (BOX) layer. Thus, greatly broadened buried oxygen-rich (BOR) layers were formed in our experiments, which are 18%-79% broader than the BOX layer of standard SIMOX SOI wafers under the same conditions of oxygen implantation. The mechanism was discussed. A potential low cost method to fabricate SIMOX SOI wafers is proposed.