Enhancement of microelectronic device performances by photothermal annealing under SiCl4 ambient

The use of low cost silicon wafers seems to be very attractive for photovoltaic and microelectronic devices. However, this material is widely contaminated by different impurities particularly transitions metals, which deteriorate the lifetimes and the bulk diffusion lengths of the minority charge carriers. One possible way to overcome this undesirable behavior is to include an efficient purification technique in the process of device fabrication. In this work, we present the effect of photothermal treatments of monocrystalline Czochralski silicon substrates under SiCl4/N2 atmosphere using a thin sacrificial porous silicon layer. The main results show a decrease of the resistivity over 40 μm depth. The Hall mobility of the majority charge carriers is improved from 300 to 1417 cm2 V− 1 s− 1. The capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics of metal/SiO2/Si (MIS) structures indicate a decrease of carrier concentration which confirms the results obtained by Hall Effect and Van Der Pauw method. The reduction of boron concentration in Czochralski silicon may reduce boron- and oxygen related metastable defect centers.