The effect of vacancies introduced by rapid thermal annealing upon the oxygen precipitation in germanium-doped Czochralski silicon was investigated. Germanium-doped Czochralski silicon was annealed at 650 to 1050C to facilitate the precipitation of oxygen. It was observed that the oxygen precipitation in silicon was enhanced by both the vacancies introduced during rapid thermal annealing pre-treatment and the doping of germanium. In particular, it was found that the enhancement effect of vacancies upon the precipitation of oxygen was larger than that of germanium atoms. In contrast to non-rapid thermal annealing pre-treatment, rapid thermal annealing pre-treatment led to less significant oxygen precipitation in germanium-doped Czochralski silicon than in conventional Czochralski silicon at temperatures ranging from 850 to 950C. The mechanism for the interaction between vacancies and germanium atoms in Czochralski silicon was elucidated.

Effect of Vacancies on Oxygen Precipitation in Germanium-Doped Czochralski Silicon. P.Wu, J.Chen, X.Ma, D.Yang: Journal of Applied Physics, 2010, 107[7], 073518