| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1790248 | Journal of Crystal Growth | 2014 | 4 Pages |
•A new intense emission line located at about 0.97 eV (the position of the maximum value varies from 1281 nm to 1285 nm) was observed in Cu-contaminated silicon wafers.•The origin of this newly found line is reasonably ascribed to be the copper-vacancy complex.•The newly formed band is further confirmed to originate from the copper-vacancy complex.
By means of photoluminescence (PL) method, a new intense emission line located at about 0.97 eV (the position of the maximum value varies from 1281 nm to 1285 nm) was observed in Cu-contaminated silicon wafers subjected to rapid thermal processing (RTP) in different atmospheres, which is proved to be related with copper. It was found that the intensity of the newly found PL line increased with the introduced vacancies. Based on this, the origin of the line is ascribed to be the copper-vacancy complex. Furthermore, it was revealed that the intensity of the new band decreased with increasing copper precipitates, indicating that copper precipitates suppress the formation of this copper-related PL center. Considering that the copper complex can be significantly suppressed by copper precipitates and that vacancies were introduced into silicon wafers by RTP, the newly formed band is further confirmed to originate from the copper-vacancy complex.
