Investigation of the distribution of silicon interstitials in silicon and silicon-on-insulator structures after thermal oxidation

Abstract

In this work we investigate the diffusion of silicon interstitials in bulk silicon and silicon-on-insulator structures. The interstitials that are injected by an oxidation process are monitored by the growth of oxidation stacking faults. The silicon-on-insulator structures are obtained by the silicon wafer bonding technique that gives us the advantage of monitoring both the lateral and the vertical distribution of point defects by special pretreatment of the bonded wafers. We observe a decrease in the lateral diffusion of interstitials as the thickness of silicon decreases. Simulation of these results reveals fundamental properties of point defects.