Ion Implantation

AbstractIon implantation has been used as a research tool since about 1960, as an indispensable part of integrated circuit production since the mid‐1960s, and as a method for beneficially modifying surface sensitive properties since the early 1970s. Ion implantation processes are known to be low temperature (if desired), highly controllable, and reproducible processes capable of exceeding thermodynamic constraints on the types of materials created at, or on, a material's surface. Outside the traditional semiconductor applications for the introduction of dopants into silicon, ion implantation technology has found other applications as a method for modifying the mechanical or chemical properties of material surfaces. In this article the fundamental underlying physical concepts of ion implantation are reviewed, namely, ion stopping, ion range, implanted concentration, channeling, radiation damage, radiation enhanced diffusion, and sputtering. A brief overview of the application of ion implantation to problems in tribology, fatigue, catalysis, and corrosion is provided. As further advances in both the application and the technology of ion implantation are made, and the economic values become realized, interest in ion implantation processes is expected to expand rapidly. In response to anticipated future interest, the state of ion implantation technology and the economic issues associated with the application of ion implantation technology at the industrial level are discussed. Vol. 14, pp. 783–814, 203 refs. to April 1994.