Analysis of vacancy and interstitial nucleation kinetics in Si wafers during rapid thermal annealing

The successful application of the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process for creation of a magic denude zone in individual Czochralski silicon wafers is based on vacancy controlled oxygen precipitation. The kinetics of the vacancy and self-interstitial processes in Si wafers are studied in this paper. Detailed insight into nucleation processes, out-diffusion and vacancy-interstitial recombination during the RTA leads to a new model of interaction between vacancies and oxygen. The calculation of the distribution function of these defects follows from modified Becker-Doering equations transformed for vacancies and interstitials and extended by diffusion and recombination terms. The new model, which includes the vacancy influence on oxygen nucleation and which follows from this theoretical analysis, corresponds very well to the experimental properties of formation of bulk micro-defects during RTA processes.