Full Activation of Boron in Silicon Doped by Self-Assembled Molecular Monolayers

Self-assembled molecular monolayer (SAMM) doping has great potential in state-of-the-art nanoelectronics with unique features of atomically precision and nondestructive doping on complex 3D surfaces. However, it was recently found that carbon impurities introduced by the SAMM significantly reduced the activation rate of phosphorus dopants by forming majority carrier traps. Developing a defect-free SAMM-doping technique with a high activation rate for dopants becomes critical for reliable applications. Considering that susbstitutional boron does not interact with carbon in silicon, herein we employ Hall measurements and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) to investigate the boron activation rate and then deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and minority carrier transient spectroscopy (MCTS) to analyze defects in boron-doped silicon by the SAMM technique. Unlike the phosphorus dopants, the activation rate of boron dopants is close to 100%, which is consistent with the defect measurement results (DLTS and MCTS). Only less than 1% boron dopants bind with oxygen impurities, forming majority hole traps. Interestingly, carbon-related defects in the form of CsH and CsOH act as minority trap states in boron-doped silicon, which will only capture electrons. As a result, the high concentration of carbon impurities has no impact on the activation rate of boron dopants.