A
plasma immersion
ion implantation process for implanting a selected species at a desired
ion implantation depth profile in a workpiece is carried out in a reactor chamber with an
ion shower grid that divides the chamber into an upper ion generation region and a lower
process region, the ion
shower grid having plural elongate orifices oriented in a non-parallel direction relative to a surface plane of the ion
shower grid. The process includes placing a workpiece in the
process region, the workpiece having a workpiece surface generally facing the surface plane of the ion shower grid, and furnishing the selected species into the ion generation region in gaseous, molecular or atomic form and evacuating the
process region at an evacuation rate sufficient to create a pressure drop across the ion shower grid from the ion generation region to the process region of about a factor of at least four. The process further includes applying
plasma source power to generate a
plasma of the selected species in the ion generation region, and applying a grid potential to the ion shower grid to create a flux of ions from the plasma through the grid and into the process region. The process also includes applying a sufficient bias
voltage to at least one of: (a) the workpiece, (b) the grid, relative to at least one of: (a) the workpiece, (b) a plasma in the ion generation region, (c) a surface of the chamber, to accelerate the flux of ions to a
kinetic energy distribution generally corresponding to the desired
ion implantation depth profile in the workpiece.