Plasma-induced defects

In-situ detection of defects during semiconductor plasma processing

Abstract

In state-of-the-art semiconductors such as FinFET, SHJ solar cells and image sensors, device performance is limited by defects. So, the suppression of defects is a crucial issue. The defects are often introduced via device fabrication, particularly during plasma processing for deposition, etching and implantation. Nevertheless, the generation of defects under plasma processing, i.e., plasma-induced defects, are not fully understood. In this review, to study the defect kinetics, we introduce an in-situ detection method for plasma-included defects. The method is applied to two examples of plasma processing: hydrogenated amorphous silicon growth and crystalline silicon surface passivation. The defect generation and annihilation kinetics are described.