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Copper-silicide precipitates in silicon obtained after copper diffusion and quench in different liquids were studied by transmission electron microscopy and capacitance spectroscopy techniques. A correlation between the quenching rate, geometric size, and deep level spectra of the copper-silicide precipitates was established. The unusually wide deep level spectra are shown to be due to a defect-related band in the bandgap. The parameters of the band are evaluated using numerical simulations. A positive charge of copper-silicide precipitates in p-type and moderately doped n-type Si is predicted by simulations and confirmed by minority carrier transient spectroscopy measurements. Strong recombination activity of the precipitates due to attraction of minority carriers by the electric field around the precipitates and their recombination via the defect band is predicted and confirmed by the experiments. The pairing of copper with boron is shown to be an important factor determining the precipitation kinetics of the interstitial copper at room temperature.) unless CC License in place (see abstract). ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS terms of use (see 132.239.1.231 Downloaded on 2014-11-18 to IP

n-type silicon samples were measured by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) immediately (within one hour of storage at room temperature, required for the preparation of Schottky-diodes) after copper diffusion and quench. A donor level at Ec-(0.15±0.01) eV with a concentration of up to 1013 cm−3 was detected. The amplitude of the DLTS peak decreased with the time of storage at room temperature, and stabilized at a concentration (4 to 7)×1011 cm−3 after 15–20 h. The activation energies and prefactors of the decay of the DLTS peak in n-type Si and the reactivation of copper-compensated boron in p-type Si concur. This correlation suggests that the deep level is interstitial copper itself or a complex of interstitial copper.

Concentrations of mobile interstitial copper and precipitated copper in silicon were studied after a high temperature intentional contamination and quench to room temperature. It was found that below a critical contamination the copper predominantly diffuses out to the surface, while for higher initial copper concentrations it mainly precipitates in the bulk. The critical copper contamination equals the acceptor concentration plus 10(16) cm (-3). This behavior can be explained by the electrostatic interaction between the positively charged interstitial copper and the forming copper precipitates.

In order to better understand and model internal gettering of iron in silicon, a quantitative investigation of iron precipitation in silicon containing different oxygen precipitate densities was performed. The number of iron precipitation sites was obtained from the iron precipitation kinetics using Ham’s Law. At low temperatures, the iron precipitate density corresponded to the oxygen precipitate density. A strong temperature dependence of the iron precipitate density was observed for the samples with larger oxygen precipitate densities. These data were used to simulate iron precipitation during a slow cool. From those simulations, optimal cooling rates were obtained for different silicon materials assuming various iron precipitation site densities in the epitaxial layer.