Iron–oxygen interaction in silicon: A combined XBIC/XRF-EBIC-DLTS study of precipitation and complex building

Iron–oxygen interaction in the Czochralski-grown silicon (CZ-Si) giving rise to their final precipitated state was investigated by means of a combination of electrical and element-sensitive techniques. The samples studied were intentionally contaminated with iron at 1150 °C and then they were annealed at temperatures of 850 and 950 °C to stimulate precipitate formation. Fe-related defect levels in silicon band gap and spatial distributions of iron-related precipitates were monitored after each annealing step. It was found that FeB-pairs being the dominant defects in as-contaminated sample transformed completely to the stable FeO-related complexes that served as precursors for further iron–oxygen co-precipitation.