Surface cavities produced by high‐dose nitrogen ion implantation into silicon

Nitrogen ion implantation (24 keV, 4.6 × 10 17 cm −2 ) into (100) a p‐type silicon wafer material and a subsequent electron beam annealing at 1100 °C for 15 s under high vacuum conditions leads to the formation of an uneven surface in the implanted region caused by nitrogen bubbles beneath the surface. Annealing at 1200 °C for 300 s results in surface cavities with a mean diameter of 350 nm and a surface coverage of 3–4% and an average depth of ∼60 nm. Nuclear reaction analysis reveals that the nitrogen concentration in the as‐implanted state exceeds 57 at%, the value of stoichiometric Si 3 N 4 . Annealing at 1100 °C for 15 s slightly reduces the nitrogen peak concentration, whereas annealing at 1200 °C for 300 s induces a significant alteration to the shape of the nitrogen depth profile coupled with the lowering of the concentration close to the stoichiometry of Si 3 N 4 . The results present a new method of producing sub‐micrometre cavities embedded in a thin silicon nitride film on wafer silicon which may lead to novel micro‐electronic and biotechnology applications. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.