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Effect of Surface Iron on Gate Oxide Integrity and its Removal from Silicon Surfaces
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
Abstract
We found that effective removal of iron from silicon surfaces requires at least three steps (plus rinses), one of which must be an hydrofluoric acid solution. Even for wafers without intentional contamination, the chemical cleans before oxidation can strongly affect the photoconductivity recombination lifetime of the wafers: a very low lifetime for silicon wafers with SC1-last surfaces, a relatively high lifetime for silicon wafers with SC2-last surfaces, and a high lifetime for silicon wafers with HF-last surfaces. We also found that precipitates and stacking-fault like defects caused by iron contamination were formed underneath thermally-grown silicon oxide. We believe that the precipitates were iron silicides formed during the oxidation of iron-contaminated silicon.
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- Copyright © Materials Research Society 1993
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