The electrical activity of stacking faults in Czochralski silicon

A spectroscopic analysis by the light-beam-induced-current technique has been carried out to study the electrical properties of stacking faults in Czochralski silicon subjected to internal gettering treatments. By changing the wavelength of the light beam probing the sample, we have obtained the depth profiling of the stacking fault electrical activity. Occurrence of minority carrier recombination and generation processes at some stacking faults, corresponding, respectively, to dark and bright levels in a grey-shade imaging, has been observed. The presence of fixed charges at the defect-silicon matrix interface is hypothesized as a possible cause of the observed images.