Impact of Transition-Metal Contamination on Oxygen Precipitation in Czochralski Silicon Under Rapid Thermal Processing

The effects of the transition metals copper and nickel on oxygen precipitation in Czochralski silicon under a rapid thermal process are investigated.It is found that interstitial copper has almost no effect on oxygen precipitation,but copper precipitation markedly enhances oxygen precipitation.However,neither interstitial nickel nor nickel precipitation affects oxygen precipitation.The reasons for the effects of copper and nickel contamination on oxygen precipitation are discussed in light of oxygen precipitation nucleation theory.