Process Transfers at IQE Silicon
 

IQE Silicon has a successful track record of matching existing qualified processes to provide its customers with a strategic second source. Our comprehensive set of film characterisation tools allows us to match the doping profile and other key characteristics of customer epitaxial films exactly.

Reactor process recipes can be tuned to minimize autodoping, up-diffusion and slip whilst simultaneously maintaining excellent uniformity and particle control.
 

A wide range of technologies have been successfully transferred and qualified at IQE Silicon including:-
 

BiCMOS

• Availability of advanced wet cleaning processes enables residual oxide layers to be removed from the wafer surface with excellent particle control. Cleans can also be optimized to avoid defects due to high buried layer dopant concentrations.

• Dopant profiles can be matched to any existing epitaxy process using SRP (spreading resistance probe) analysis and tailoring the reactor process recipe to obtain the required result. SRP analysis is typically performed on all differently doped regions of the wafer (some of our customer processes run with multiple buried layers). This ensures that wafers processed at IQE have identical electrical performance to wafers processed at the original source.

SiGe HBT

• Low temperature SiGe processes for drift-field and box-structure SiGe HBTs are available with dopant profiles tailored to match the exact requirements of the customer. IQE has considerable experience of both HBT process transfer and process development.

• Our advanced single wafer reactors (ASM Epsilon 2000) are capable of providing robust processes with excellent profile control and uniformity.

• Advanced metrology tools such as SIMS (secondary ion mass spectroscopy), SE (spectroscopic ellipsometry) and XRD (x-ray diffraction) are available for detailed film characterisation.

• We have an automated wet bench capable of the HF-last pre-cleans essential to successful HBT process transfer. Degasification and hydrogenation of our final rinse DI water provides excellent hydrogen termination needed for low temperature epitaxy processes.

Selective Epitaxy

• Successful process transfers of low temperature selective silicon epitaxy for photonics AWG (arrayed waveguide gratings) and raised source drain applications.

Blanket Epitaxy

• A wide range of film thickness and resistivities are available using industry standard dopants (Boron, Phosphorus and Arsenic).

• Transition widths can be engineered to customer requirements and confirmed using SRP.

• Multiple epitaxy films can be deposited for certain device applications such as Power –MOS and P-i-N diodes.

• Robust slip-free silicon epitaxy processes on SOI wafers are available (this is challenging due to the materials mismatch at the wafer edge)