An examination of athermal photonic effects on boron diffusion and activation during microwave rapid thermal processing.

This work examines the role of 672 nm optical illumination on the diffusion and activation of B in Si as a function of various factors. The factors studied include length of anneal, maximum temperature of anneal, type of co-implanted and pre-amorphizing species and ambient oxygen concentration. The anneal conditions fell into one of three categories: (1) high-temperature (> 900 degrees C) spike and 10-second anneals; (2) low temperature (550 degrees C) 30-minute anneals; and (3) room-temperature long-term "anneals".

Microwave-induced mass transport enhancement in nano-porous aluminum oxide membranes.

Experiments were conducted to compare the annealing of nano-porous aluminum oxide membranes by 2.45 GHz microwave radiation and by conventional (resistive element) furnace heating. The starting material was Al2O3 membranes that were 60 microm thick, 13 mm in diameter, and containing pores of approximately 200 nm diameter.