Effects of stress on generation of P-line defects near insulator- silicon interface

Stress accumulated in a silicon wafer near the interface between a silicon and a silicon dioxide or silicon nitride film was characterized on the basis of shifts of phonon frequencies in Raman spectra. The relative density of P-line defects in Czochralski silicon wafers after annealing at 500°C was deduced from relative intensities of the photoluminescence peak at 0.767 eV which was obtained using a Fourier transform spectrometer with high sensitivity. It is shown that tensile stress was accumulated in silicon substrates with silicon dioxide films which promoted the generation of the P-line defects while compressive stress was accumulated in silicon substrates with silicon nitride films which suppressed the generation of the P-line defects