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Breakthrough Method Detects Ion Implants in Silicon with 98% Accuracy

10/22/2025

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Summary

Story summary

Researchers from the University of Surrey and Ionoptika Ltd. developed a non-destructive method to detect individual ion implants in silicon with 98% efficiency.
The method uses secondary electrons and a silicon dioxide capping layer to achieve approximately 30 nanometre spatial resolution.
Future work will optimize the silicon dioxide layer for different ion species and energies and explore alternative materials to improve detection sensitivity, paving the way for scalable silicon-based devices.

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Story summary

Researchers from the University of Surrey and Ionoptika Ltd. developed a non-destructive method to detect individual ion implants in silicon with 98% efficiency.
The method uses secondary electrons and a silicon dioxide capping layer to achieve approximately 30 nanometre spatial resolution.
Future work will optimize the silicon dioxide layer for different ion species and energies and explore alternative materials to improve detection sensitivity, paving the way for scalable silicon-based devices.