Intrinsic gettering of shallow P-N junctions by oxygen precipitates in Czochralski-grown silicon.

Intrinsic gettering (IG) by oxygen precipitates in Czochralski- grown silicon has been evaluated over a wide range of initial interstitial oxygen concentration 15 [O(i)]o 22 ppma with and without a HI-LO-HI pre-process annealing cycle. Among samples of approximately 100 p-n junctions per wafer, reductions of 1-3 orders of magnitude in reverse leakage at 5 volts were achieved in the worst 10% of 500 micron square devices on wafers that were exposed to the HI-LO-HI (denuding-nucleation-precipitation) heat treatment. IG is most effective when [O(i)]o > 22 ppma, but leakage reduction among the worst diodes is achieved at the expense of a two of three-fold increase in median leakage.