Defect Engineering During Czochralski Crystal Growth and Silicon Wafer Manufacturing

Single crystal silicon has played the fundamental role in electronic industry since the second half of the 20th century and still remains the most widely used material. Electronic devices and integrated circuits are fabricated on single-crystal silicon wafers which are produced from silicon crystals grown primarily by the Czochralski (CZ) technique. Various defects are formed in the growing crystal as well as in the wafers during their processing. This chapter deals with the topic of engineering of crystal defects in the technology of manufacturing silicon single crystals and silicon wafers for the electronic industry. A basic overview of crystal defects found in semiconductor-grade silicon is provided and mechanisms of their formation are introduced. The impact of crystal defects on the manufacturing and performance of electronic devices is outlined and some of the methods of defect analyses are described. Finally, the most important methods for control of defect formation are summarized.