There is degree of unpredictability in the performance of wafers in regard to the behavior of oxygen. Uncontrolled behavior is completely unacceptable. Control of oxygen concentration with the intent of controlling oxygen behavior is not sufficient to deliver optimum performance.

Device manufacturers are concerned with two things related to the behavior of oxygen in the wafers they use to manufacture their devices with:

• First and foremost, they are concerned that no oxygen related defect (precipitate) be the root cause of a measurable yield loss in their finished goods.

• Assuming the first, necessary requirement is met, they are generally interested in utilizing the internal gettering (IG) potential of bulk oxygen precipitates as a yield maintenance tool.

The first statement is another way of saying that the silicon wafer itself not be a yield limiting factor for our customer.

The second statement is another way of saying that the silicon wafer should be a yield enhancing factor for our customer.

Over the years, the silicon industry has collected an awful lot of costly excess baggage along the road to satisfying these two conditions.

MEMC’s patented MDZ® process and silicon wafer is the ideal solution for the problem of controlling oxygen precipitation in all IC processes. MDZ® wafers programmed for optimum, robust and uniform performance. MDZ® greatly simplifies the use of silicon wafers while at the same time bringing a new, and until now, unheard of precision to their performance.