OXYGEN PRECIPITATION IN SILICON

This paper presents the results of our observing oxygen precipitation in a silicon crystal at 1000 °C using infrared absorption, TEM, and x-ray techniques. Comparison of results shows excellent agreement between TEM and IR for the number of precipitate particles formed. TEM data show that the number of particles increases as the annealing time is increased for oxygen contents above a critical concentration ratio of about 4 (30 ppma at 1000 °C). The number of particles formed at lower ratios remains relatively small. Detailed analysis of the TEM results has yielded a relationship between precipitate volume and the total area of punched-out loops. These loops, however, account for only a small fraction of the silicon atoms displaced by the growing precipitates. X-ray results indicate the defects are of an interstitial nature, in agreement with TEM.