The effects of temperature and cooling rate of the rapid thermal processing (RTP) in N2 ambient on oxygen precipitation and the formation of denuded zone (DZ) in Czochralski (CZ) silicon subjected to a subsequent low–high (L–H) two-step annealing have been investigated. It is found that as long as the cooling process of the RTP in N2 ambient is sufficiently slow, the DZ can be definitely formed. Moreover, it is revealed that, with respect to the RTP in Ar ambient, the RTP in N2 ambient can be carried out at lower temperatures to achieve the comparable oxygen precipitation in the subsequent L–H two-step annealing, indicating that the internal gettering (IG) process for CZ silicon wafers can be based on the RTP in N2 ambient at lower temperatures.