Patent ID: 7592242

Claim:
A method of reducing a dopant diffusion rate in a doped semiconductor region comprising: selecting a plurality of dopant elements, including: selecting a first dopant element with a first atomic radius larger than a host matrix atomic radius; selecting a second dopant element with a second atomic radius smaller than a host matrix atomic radius; selecting amounts of each dopant element of the plurality of dopant elements wherein amounts and atomic radii of each of the plurality of dopant elements complement each other to substantially eliminate a host matrix lattice strain; introducing the plurality of dopant elements together in a selected region of the host matrix; annealing the selected region of the host matrix; defining a maximum dopant element diffusion distance when the host matrix lattice strain is substantially eliminated, the maximum diffusion distance being shorter than a single impurity element diffusion distance; and locating a semiconductor feature adjacent to the semiconductor region at a distance that is shorter than the single impurity element diffusion distance.