An experimental structure which consisted of multiple box-shaped B marker layers on various Si substrates provided clear evidence for the separate, bulk and surface, generation of point defects. A method which used dislocations that were generated by using unstably strained SiGe layers as a sink of interstitials permitted the determination of the relative magnitudes of surface interstitial generation and bulk interstitial generation. Analysis revealed that the wafer surface under inert annealing conditions was a significant source of point defects, and that the interstitial source in the bulk depended upon the O concentration and precipitate size.

W.T.C.Fang, T.T.Fang, P.B.Griffin, J.D.Plummer: Applied Physics Letters, 1996, 68[15], 2085-7