Scanning Electron Microscopic Observation of Oxidation-Induced Stacking Faults in Silicon

Abstract

An electron beam induced current (EBIC) method using an Al-Si Schottky barrier has been developed and applied to the observation of oxidation-induced stacking faults in (001) silicon. The minority carriers in thermally-oxidized silicon have a very large diffusion length. Analysis of the Y-modulation image of a stacking fault is effective for correlating the EBIC image contrast with the induced-current variation. Increasing beam energy increases the depth of a Frank partial dislocation segment showing the maximum contrast. A deep dislocation segment shows a larger resolution than a shallow one, and a further increase in resolution results from an increase in the beam energy. The Schottky barrier method is applied to the evaluation of the electrical activity of stacking faults and to the examination of their annealing behavior.