CONTROL OF OXIDATION-INDUCED STACKING-FAULTS IN SILICON BY CHLORINE IMPLANTATION

Stacking faults in thermally-oxidized silicon wafers were shrunk by chlorine implantation into the SiO2 layer and subsequent annealing in dry O2. By assuming that the shrinkage of stacking faults was due to vacancy diffusion into them, the vacancy concentration near the Si–SiO2 interface was estimated from the observed shrinkage rates. The increase in vacancy concentration due to chlorine was expressed as κCn at 1100°–1200°C, where κ is a factor dependent on the Cl content, and Cn is the vacancy concentration in equilibrium with the oxidizing interface of non-implanted wafers. Chlorine showed no effect on fault shrinkage during annealing in dry N2. Chlorine implantation into the substrates of oxidized wafers and into bare Si wafers caused unfaulting reaction of stacking faults, suppression of fault generation, and generation of secondary defects during subsequent annealing in dry O2. © 1979 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.