Origin and Control of Material Defects in Silicon VLSI Technologies: An Overview

Very large-scale integrated circuits impose stringent demands on the quality of silicon wafers required for their fabrication. This paper is an overview of the interrelationships among silicon characteristics, processing, circuit performance, and crystal growth. The relationship between circuit performance and defects in the substrate is described, particularly the effects resulting form the transition from LSI to VLSI. The defect-generation process is then discussed in terms of as-grown silicon characteristics and crystal-growth conditions that control them. The interdependence of material parameters, internal gettering procedures used to reduce the effect of defects on device performance, and resistance to the warpage of silicon wafers is reviewed, with special emphasis on the current and future requirements of bipolar, MOS, and CCD processes.