VIISta 80 High Current

Ion implanters introduce selected dopant ions into semiconductor wafers by accelerating ions and directing the beam onto the wafer surface. High-current ion implanters are used where process flow calls for relatively high dose implantation, often in front-end device fabrication steps that set electrically active regions in silicon.

Ion implanters of this class generate ions from a source gas, analyze and transport the ion beam through vacuum hardware, and scan or present wafers to the beam to achieve the intended implant pattern across the wafer. Loadlocks isolate the process vacuum from cassette handling, and wafer mapping helps verify wafer presence and placement before transfer and implant.

Ion implantation sits in the front-end semiconductor flow after wafers have received films or masks that define where dopants should enter and before later thermal and integration steps that activate dopants and continue device formation. Implant modules are commonly used between patterning and subsequent clean, anneal, and film-processing operations.

High-current ion implanters are used for dopant introduction steps that require substantial implanted dose, including formation of source and drain regions and other heavily doped semiconductor areas. Ion implantation is also used where dose control and spatial selectivity are needed through masking layers.