ION-IMPLANTATION FROM THE PAST AND INTO THE FUTURE

This paper is a view of the past, present and future of ion implantation equipment. From the discovery of charged particles in the last century, a set of apparatus has evolved for processing silicon by implanting several dopant species. The equipment is now standardized into two forms (serial medium, batch high) and produced by several major manufacturers. The technical requirements for device shrinkage in the next several generations of silicon products will focus technical ion beam efforts on lower energy implants with more stable high current beams. The fundamental change however lies in the market for silicon which is becoming totally dominated by consumer products (such as PCs); the relentless drive for lower cost memory and soon in microprocessors will force implanters to increase ''ions into silicon''.