Silicon crystal technology - present and future

The silicon crystal technology is mature technology which has a long history of progress. Modern integrated circuits (IC) are mostly fabricated in surface regions of silicon wafers. Silicon wafers are produced from ingots of silicon single crystal which are grown from melt mostly by the Czochralski technique. Oxygen impurity contained in Czochralski grown silicon crystals are mainly used for this purpose. Wafers have to be designed in such a way that oxygen precipitation takes place in the most efficient manner to remove contaminates from the device active regions. This technology has been achieved on the basis of crystal defects. Silicon wafer technology has made a great progress in controlling structural defects and impurities. The progress has exactly synchronized with the progress in integration of circuits. Most structural defects give rise to wrong effects on device performance if they are located inside the device active region. (A.B.)