Abstract
Heavily phosphorus (P)- and arsenic (As)-doped Czochralski silicon (CZ-Si) wafers generally act as the substrates for the epitaxial silicon wafers used to fabricate power and communication devices. The mechanical properties of such two kinds of n-type heavily doped CZ silicon wafers are vital to ensure the quality of epitaxial silicon wafers and the manufacturing yields of devices. In this work, the mechanical properties including the hardness, Young’s modulus, indentation fracture toughness and the resistance to dislocation motion have been comparatively investigated for heavily P- and As-doped CZ-Si wafers. It is found that heavily P-doped CZ-Si possesses somewhat higher hardness, lower Young’s modulus, larger indentation fracture toughness and stronger resistance to dislocation motion than heavily As-doped CZ-Si. The mechanisms underlying this finding have been tentatively elucidated by considering the differences in the doping effects of P and As in silicon.
Highlights
The mechanical properties of silicon often dictate fundamental limits on the fabrication and packaging of various devices including the most prominent integrated circuits
Yonenaga has found that the dislocation generation from a surface scratch on Czochralski silicon (CZ-Si) wafer is suppressed by the heavy doping of B, P or As with a concentration higher than 1×1019 cm-3 and, the critical stress for dislocation generation increases with the dopant concentration.[9]
Based on the statistical analysis on the Vickers hardness numbers derived from 100 indentations free of lateral cracks, it is found that the Vickers hardness
Summary
The mechanical properties of silicon often dictate fundamental limits on the fabrication and packaging of various devices including the most prominent integrated circuits They dominate the issues related to dislocation-free silicon crystal growth and epitaxial layer deposition, as well as the processing of silicon wafers. We have comparatively investigated the mechanical properties including the Vickers hardness, Young’s modulus, indentation fracture toughness and the resistance to dislocation motion for heavily P- and As-doped CZ-Si wafers. It is found that heavily P-doped CZ-Si is of somewhat higher hardness, lower Young’s modulus, larger indentation fracture toughness and stronger resistance to dislocation motion with respect to heavily As-doped CZ-Si. The underlying mechanisms for this finding have been tentatively discussed
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