Re: How do Ion's implanted into silicon change the area into dopant sites?

Hi Beth,

This is funny. I've been designing ion sources for ion implanters for over twenty-five years and can answer just about any question you could come up with about that end of the machine. I just realized that even after all that time, I never became interested in what happened to the ions once they arrived at the wafer, so I'll be learning along with you. (Ion sources are one of those "black art" kinds of topics where experience and intuition are actually more valuable than a head full of physics equations. That's why it is so much fun.)

I think the best thing I can do to help you in a hurry is to point you to some good information to study. It's hard to find a one-stop-shopping source of information, so give this stuff a scan for the specific answers you are looking for. If you need to find more specific information there are some real experts I can point you toward.

Btw: Silicon process engineers have no idea or interest in where the ions are made. ;8->

Well, let's start here: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/diode2.htm
http://www.eere.energy.gov/solar/doping_silicon.html
http://chemistry.beloit.edu/Chip/pages/trans_r.html
http://www.aip.org/tip/INPHFA/vol-9/iss-3/p12.html
http://www.leb.e-technik.uni-erlangen.de/lehre/mm/html/implant.htm

This is probably the best general implanter information site on the web: http://www.casetechnology.com/links.html