Nucleation and formation of oxygen precipitates in Czochralski grown silicon annealed under uniform stress conditions

Annealing of Cz-Si at enhanced pressures gives rise to the creation of oxygen precipitates with smaller sizes and higher concentrations in comparison to the case of annealing at atmospheric pressure. This effect is more pronounced for pressures above 0.1 GPa, The pressure (about 1.0 GPa) treatment at temperatures below 900 degrees C leads to the stabilization of the OP precursors (of the local oxygen reach areas) and after prolonged annealing to their coexistence with OF. The last effect is most likely connected with a decrease in the OP size with pressure to some critical value which is lower than that needed for OP existence. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.