High-efficiency, high-productivity boron doping implantation by diboron tetrafluoride (B2F4) gas on Applied Materials solar ion implanter

Ion implantation is known for its precise control and reproducibility of doping, enabling it to become one of the main approaches for high-efficiency cell manufacturing in the solar industry. Among the dopant materials, boron doping often represents the largest challenge to productivity as the efficiency of the traditional doping material, boron trifluoride (BF₃), is always low. This paper presents a high-efficiency and high-productivity solution for boron doping on an Applied Materials solar ion implanter by using diboron tetrafluoride (B₂F₄) as a replacement gaseous boron source material for BF₃. Both the B⁺ beam current and source life effects were evaluated. With optimized source parameters and beam tuning, the solar implanter with B₂F₄ has demonstrated significant improvements for both B⁺ beam current performance and source lifetime.