Nondestructive observation of depths and dimensions of subsurface microdefects in Czochralski-grown and epitaxial silicon wafers

Evaluation of the depths and dimensions of microdefects are nondestructively studied in the subsurface region of Czochralski-grown and epitaxial silicon wafers, using a new short wavelength laser scattering tomography which was proposed in our previous paper. It has been shown experimentally that the method is capable of observing the depths and dimensions of microdefects in the subsurface region and that of their densities of silicon wafers. From these results, depth profile of size distributions of detected subsurface defects have been obtained. For epitaxial wafers, distinct boundaries between their epitaxial layers and substrates are successfully detected. (C) 2002 The Electrochemical Society.