Abstract
Oxygen precipitation within the magic denuded zone (MDZ) founded by rapid thermal processing in Czochralski silicon (CZ-Si) wafers is investigated. After the standard MDZ process, the CZ-Si wafers are further subjected to two specific oxygen precipitation annealing, respectively. It is found that the MDZs in CZ-Si wafers shrunk notably because oxygen precipitation occurs within the MDZs. However, a width of substantial DZ still remains within the wafer. Therefore, it is believed that the outer region of the MDZs, which corresponds to the oxygen denuded zone formed in the course of rapid thermal process and high temperature annealing, is a substantial defect-free zone which acts as the active area for semiconductor devices.