The use of cavities for gettering in silicon microelectronic devices

This paper presents results from an ongoing three-year project in which the use of microcavities to getter transition metal impurities in silicon-based microelectronic devices has been investigated. The paper reports on the results of a fundamental study of bubble growth mechanisms and on a systematic study of possible detrimental effects of cavity gettering on 1.2 μm p-type metal–oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors.