Subpicosecond surface-restricted carrier and thermal dynamics by transient reflectivity measurements

Abstract

Ultrafast measurements of photoexcited carrier dynamics within a 60 nm subsurface of a crystalline silicon wafer were carried out using subpicosecond transient reflectivity. A uv pump light was employed to restrict carrier generation to occur within the subsurface by direct interband transitions. Carrier diffusion was found to be suppressed in the subsurface region of the intrinsic silicon wafer. For ion-implanted silicon wafers, heat was generated within a few picoseconds after the laser irradiation. By scanning a partially ion-implanted silicon wafer, the two-dimensional image was obtained, which showed that time-resolved imaging can separately map photoexcited carrier density and transient temperature rise. The possibility of three-dimensional process monitoring was considered as well.