Intrinsic Cu gettering at a thermally grown SiO2/Si interface

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SiO2 film of 1500-Å thickness has been grown by a conventional thermal dry oxidation process on commercial Si(111) and Si(100) wafers. A secondary-ion mass spectrometry study of the SiO2/Si structure showed that a gettering of Cu atoms, which were present in the Si wafers as residual impurities, has occurred at the SiO2/Si interface due to the thermal dry oxidation process. The areal concentration of the Cu atoms at the interface has been found to depend on the Cu concentration in the Si wafers. Areal concentrations in order of 1×1012/cm2 were measured at the interfaces. Facilitated by the high diffusivity of Cu in SiO2 and Si, the gettering is thermodynamically driven by the low solid solubility of Cu, either in SiO2 at the temperature range up to the oxidation temperature, or in Si at low temperatures as the wafers cool down. The defects generated at the SiO2/Si interface provide the nucleation sites for the Cu gettering.