VERTICAL DIODE DOPED WITH ANTIMONY TO AVOID OR LIMIT DOPANT DIFFUSION

摘要

Use of antimony as an n-type conductivity-enhancing dopant in semiconductor structures having a vertical dopant profile is described. Dopants tend to diffuse, and steep dopant gradients can be difficult to maintain. Specifically, when a silicon layer is doped with phosphorus or arsenic, both n-type dopants, dopant atoms tend to seek the surface as undoped silicon is deposited on top of the n- doped layer, rising through the undoped silicon during deposition. Antimony does not have this tendency, and also diffuses more slowly than either phosphorus or arsenic, and this is advantageously used to dope such structures.