Theoretical modeling of oxygen precipitation in Czochralski silicon
Oxygen precipitation in Czochralski-grown silicon is of critical importance
during the complicated annealing treatments required for integrated circuit
processing, to ensure device reliability. This is a long-standing
problem that is becoming increasingly critical as device line-widths decrease.
Under industrial support by MEMC Electronic
Materials Cooperation, we have developed a quantitative model of the
oxygen precipitation kinetics, based on our new model for coupled-flux
nucleation (discussed earlier in this section). The model has allowed
the first quantitative fits to isothermal and nonisothermal nucleation
data, including time-dependent coupled-flux nucleation, strain relief by
grown-in vacancies and interstitial ejection, and dimer-enhanced oxygen
diffusion rates. MEMC is preparing to use this model as a basis for
working with chip manufacturers to optimize thermal processing steps during
integrated circuit processing. Examinations of the evolution of small
oxygen clusters are underway for comparison with the kinetics of thermal
donor formation.
List of recent publications:
Coming soon...
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Last Updated: 11/7/01