The contribution, to gettering, of interstitial injection that was induced by P diffusion under non-oxidizing conditions was considered with regard to short-range (doped-layer) effects and long-range (bulk) effects. It was shown that a positive concentration gradient of Si interstitials within a highly doped layer was favorable to the gettering of substitutional metallic species via a kick-out mechanism during P diffusion. Also, the contribution of P diffusion to the gettering of 3d elements was significant only within a highly P-doped layer (short-range effect). The predictions of the diffusion-induced gettering model agreed with experimental evidence on the P diffusion-gettering of Co and on the P diffusion-gettering of Au.

F.Gaiseanu, W.Schröter: Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 1996, 143[1], 361-2