Intrinsic Gettering of Manganese Impurity in Silicon Substrate

Intrinsic gettering of manganese impurity atoms has been investigated in p-type silicon by means of resistivity and minority carrier lifetime measurements and infrared absorption spectroscopy. Manganese proved to be a donor impurity in p-Si and its presence led to a reduction by a factor of about 7 in the lifetime of minority carriers by formation of deep level traps. There is strong evidence that high temperature oxygen precipitation is enhanced by the presence of the Mn impurity in the substrate. The resulting oxygen precipitate provided an efficient gettering sink for the Mn impurity.