Chapter 3 Characterization Techniques for Oxygen in Silicon

Publisher Summary The chapter presents a study on characterization techniques for oxygen in silicon. The combined application of infrared spectroscopy, X-ray topography, and transmission electron microscopy that began to uncover the complex physics and chemistry of oxygen precipitation is discussed. These core techniques fulfilled three essential requirements to measure concentration, uniformity, and microstructure. The chapter presents a survey of the techniques that are outlined, with emphasis on strengths and weaknesses of each for the oxygen application. The objective is to provide general perspective without technical details. Physical techniques are those that rely on incident probes of photons, electrons, or ions and are distinguished in the chapter from those that couple with wet chemical separations or electrical measurements. They encompass the traditional core tools and others that are included in the chapter. Infrared vibrational spectroscopy reveals the presence of dispersed oxygen in Czochralski silicon crystals as well as silica precipitates produced under controlled high-temperature annealing. The chapter describes over 16 characterization techniques for measuring oxygen in silicon.