Ion Implantation Versus Thermal Diffusion

• Diffusion is an isotropic process and so there is lateral diffusion whereas ion implantation is isotropic and very directional.

• Thermal diffusion usually takes place at higher temperature whereas ion implantation is a low temperature process.

• We can control the exact amount of dopant in ion implantation unlike diffusion.

• Thermal diffusion is non-destructive whereas ion implantation damages the crystalline structure and so needs annealing.

• Ion implantation is more expensive than diffusion.

• Ion implantation does not lend itself to batch process unlike diffusion, so throughput is low compared to diffusion.

• Extremely low and high dose is obtained by ion implantation compared to diffusion.

• Very shallow junctions can form with ion implantation.