Trapping of Oxygen at Homoepitaxial Si-Si Interfaces Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Interfaces between Si substrates and epitaxial Si buffer layers grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) are shown to contain a high density of SiOx pockets for certain sustrate preparation conditions. It is also shown that post-deposition thermal annealing of these structures grown upon Czochralski wafers can lead to a greatly increased defect density at the interface. The primary model proposed for this increase is trapping of background oxygen diffusing from the bulk of the Czochralski substrate wafers.