Effect of nitrogen doping on denuded zone formed by rapid thermal process in Czochralski silicon wafer

Abstract Denuded zone (DZ) formed by rapid thermal process (RTP) followed with the low–high (Lo–Hi) annealing in nitrogen-doped Czochralski (NCZ) silicon wafer was studied in this paper. In comparison with the conventional CZ silicon, the DZ in NCZ silicon was a little narrower, while the bulk microdefects were much denser, as a result of nitrogen-enhanced oxygen precipitation. It was also found that DZs within CZ and NCZ silicon wafers shrunk notably when further subjected to rigorous oxygen precipitation annealing, however, a width of substantial DZ remained within either wafer. Furthermore, it is definitely proved that the nitrogen doping does not affect the formation of defect-free DZ by the RTP-based internal gettering (IG) process.