MINORITY-CARRIER LIFETIME - CORRELATION WITH IC PROCESS PARAMETERS

The recombination lifetime for more than 200 Czochralski, 3 in. diameter, <100>, 11-15 Ω-cm p-type silicon slices has been determined by the surface photovoltage technique. These slices were subsequently fabricated into MOS ring-dot capacitors for determination of the generation lifetime by the C-t technique. The influence of several process parameters including the temperature (900°C-1100°C) and ambient (oxygen, steam, HCl) of oxidation as well as the thermal history are correlated with the material generation lifetime. Significant improvement in generation lifetime was achieved by the use of back-surface phosphorus gettering. Room-temperature generation lifetime in excess of one millisecond have been obtained in the case of a 900°C gate oxidation temperature. © 1979, The Electrochemical Society, Inc. All rights reserved.