The Diffusivity and Solubility of Oxygen in Silicon

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe diffusivity and solubility are two key parameters required for understanding and modeling the behavior of oxygen in silicon. This paper gives an up to date review of experimental determinations of these parameters, including some recent unpublished data. There is very good agreement within the long-range diffusivity results determined by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), charged particle analysis (CPA), and x-ray diffraction. The oxygen diffusivity is independent of [O], orientation, ambient, or crystal doping. The data also extrapolate well to the diffusivities obtained by the intrinsic oxygen atomic hop frequency at low temperature to give a combined expression of D = 0.13 exp(−2.53eV/kT) cm2s−1. There is somewhat poorer agreement on the solubility measurements, in part due to inconsistent calibration factors and the observation of a processing-dependent extrinsic oxygen solubility. The intrinsic solubility derived from SIMS, CPA, and infrared absorption is described by [O] = 9E22 exp (−1.52 eV/kT) cm−3. Finally, the above diffusivity and solubility parameters are compared to modeling of oxygen related phenomena in silicon, such as thermal donor and precipitate formation kinetics, and interaction with point defects during the relaxation of stress-aligned dichroism.