Method of selectively annealing damaged doped regions

Claim 1

A method of forming a region of impurity in a semiconductor wafer substrate having a surface, comprising sequential steps of: (a) imparting a surface oxidation-inhibiting impurity into the semiconductor substrate to a depth below the surface of the semiconductor substrate to form a surface oxidation-inhibiting impurity region; (b) applying a first laser energy to the semiconductor substrate at a sufficient magnitude to liquify the semiconductor substrate in the surface oxidation-inhibiting impurity regions to repair the surface of the semiconductor substrate damaged by the step (a); and (c) growing an oxide region on the surface of the semiconductor substrate such that the oxide region grows at a first rate over the surface oxidation-inhibiting impurity region and a second rate on the surface not over the surface oxidation-inhibiting impurity region, wherein the first rate is different from the second rate and the oxide region produced by the first rate has a thickness measuring up to about 100 Å.

Claim 2

A method of forming a region of impurity in a semiconductor wafer substrate having a surface, comprising sequential steps of: (a) imparting a surface oxidation-inhibiting impurity into the semiconductor substrate to a depth below the surface of the semiconductor substrate to form a surface oxidation-inhibiting impurity region; (b) applying a first laser energy to the semiconductor substrate at a sufficient magnitude to liquify the semiconductor substrate in the surface oxidation-inhibiting impurity regions to repair the surface of the semiconductor substrate damaged by the step (a); and (c) growing an oxide region on the surface of the semiconductor substrate such that the oxide region grows at a first rate over the surface oxidation-inhibiting impurity region and a second rate on the surface not over the surface oxidation-inhibiting impurity region, wherein the first rate is different from the second rate and the oxide region produced by the first rate has a thickness measuring up to about 100 Å.

Claim 10

A method of forming a device including an impurity region in a semiconductor wafer substrate having a surface, comprising sequential steps of: (a) forming a mask layer on the surface of the semiconductor substrate; (b) patterning the mask layer to expose an area overlying at least one portion of the surface of the semiconductor substrate into which a oxidation-inhibiting impurity is to be implanted; (c) ion implanting the oxidation-inhibiting impurity into said at least one portion of the surface to form the impurity region in the semiconductor substrate to a depth below the semiconductor substrate; (d) applying laser energy to the semiconductor substrate at a sufficient magnitude to liquify the semiconductor substrate in the impurity region to repair the surface of the semiconductor substrate damaged by the step (c); and (e) growing an oxide layer having a first thickness at the surface overlying the impurity region and a second thickness on the surface without the impurity region, wherein the first thickness measures up to about 100 Å and the first thickness is different from the second thickness.

Claim 11

A method of forming a device including an impurity region in a semiconductor wafer substrate having a surface, comprising sequential steps of: (a) forming a mask layer on the surface of the semiconductor substrate; (b) patterning the mask layer to expose an area overlying at least one portion of the surface of the semiconductor substrate into which a oxidation-inhibiting impurity is to be implanted; (c) ion implanting the oxidation-inhibiting impurity into said at least one portion of the surface to form the impurity region in the semiconductor substrate to a depth below the semiconductor substrate; (d) applying laser energy to the semiconductor substrate at a sufficient magnitude to liquify the semiconductor substrate in the impurity region to repair the surface of the semiconductor substrate damaged by the step (c); and (e) growing an oxide layer having a first thickness at the surface overlying the impurity region and a second thickness on the surface without the impurity region, wherein the first thickness measures up to about 100 Å and the first thickness is different from the second thickness.

Claim 16

A method for forming a semiconductor device in a silicon wafer substrate having a surface, comprising sequential steps of: (a) forming a region containing nitrogen in the substrate to a depth below the surface of the substrate; (b) applying a first laser energy to the surface of the substrate at a sufficient energy and for a sufficient time to melt the surface of the substrate to at least said depth, thereby liquefying a portion of the region containing the nitrogen in the substrate to repair the surface of the substrate damaged by the step (a); and (c) growing an oxide layer having a first thickness on the surface of the substrate above the nitrogen region and a second thickness on the surface not above the nitrogen region, wherein the first thickness measures up to about 100 Å and the first thickness is different from the second thickness.

Claim 17

A method for forming a semiconductor device in a silicon wafer substrate having a surface, comprising sequential steps of: (a) forming a region containing nitrogen in the substrate to a depth below the surface of the substrate; (b) applying a first laser energy to the surface of the substrate at a sufficient energy and for a sufficient time to melt the surface of the substrate to at least said depth, thereby liquefying a portion of the region containing the nitrogen in the substrate to repair the surface of the substrate damaged by the step (a); and (c) growing an oxide layer having a first thickness on the surface of the substrate above the nitrogen region and a second thickness on the surface not above the nitrogen region, wherein the first thickness measures up to about 100 Å and the first thickness is different from the second thickness.

Claim 22

A method for forming an oxide on a surface of a silicon wafer substrate, comprising sequential steps of: (a) forming a mask layer on the surface of the substrate; (b) patterning the mask layer to expose portions of the substrate into which nitrogen is to be implanted; (c) implanting the nitrogen into a portion of the substrate to a depth below the surface of the substrate; (d) applying laser energy to the surface of the substrate at a sufficient energy and time to melt the surface of the substrate to a depth below the surface thereby repairing the surface of the substrate damaged by the step (c); and (e) forming an oxide on the surface of the substrate, at least a portion of the oxide being formed over the portion of the substrate containing the nitrogen, wherein the portion of oxide being formed over the portion of the substrate containing the nitrogen measure up to about 100 Å.

Claim 23

A method for forming an oxide on a surface of a silicon wafer substrate, comprising sequential steps of: (a) forming a mask layer on the surface of the substrate; (b) patterning the mask layer to expose portions of the substrate into which nitrogen is to be implanted; (c) implanting the nitrogen into a portion of the substrate to a depth below the surface of the substrate; (d) applying laser energy to the surface of the substrate at a sufficient energy and time to melt the surface of the substrate to a depth below the surface thereby repairing the surface of the substrate damaged by the step (c); and (e) forming an oxide on the surface of the substrate, at least a portion of the oxide being formed over the portion of the substrate containing the nitrogen, wherein the portion of oxide being formed over the portion of the substrate containing the nitrogen measure up to about 100 Å.