Regularities of microdefect formation in silicon during heat treatment for internal getter synthesis

Gettering is defined as a process by which metal impurities in the device region are reduced by localizing them in predetermined, passive regions of the silicon wafer. Internal or intrinsic gettering is an effective way to reduce the contamination in active regions. The generation of internal getters is based on the decomposition of the supersaturated oxygen solid solution in silicon, which favours the formation of a complex defect system in silicon that consists of various precipitate/dislocation agglomerates. Regularities of microdefect formation during oxygen solid solution decomposition in silicon have been studied. We show that actual solid solution supersaturation, temperature and heat treatment duration determine the structure of the solid solution. Combining these factors, including heat treatment parameters, one can control solid solution decomposition rate and SiO_x precipitate sizes and quantity. The methods of X-ray diffuse scattering and transmission electron microscopy have shown high efficiency for studying the effect of heat treatment in crystals. For annealing at 450 °C, solid solution decomposition occurs at high supersaturation degrees, and concentration inhomogeneity regions may form at an early decomposition stage over the actual annealing time (up to 40 h). With an increase in the temperature of subsequent annealing to 650 °C, local regions with above-average oxygen supersaturation degrees increase the efficiency of oxygen solid solution decomposition. Further, an increase in annealing temperature to T > 1000 °С results in a more intense generation of the largest precipitates at the expense of the smaller ones. Once the precipitate sizes become sufficiently large, the elastic stresses start to relax, leading to partial incoherence and the generation of dislocations around the particles. This type of defect structure seems to be the most efficient getter.