Agglomeration of Vacancies into Voids and Oxide Particles in Silicon Crystals

Abstract

The vacancies, incorporated into a growing crystal, agglomerate by two parallel paths - producing voids and oxide particles. The voids dominate if the vacancy concentration C0 is high while the oxide particles dominate at lower C0. The void and particle properties are simulated assuming that the particles are thin plates. The initial single-octahedral void shape can later change to double-octahedral, due to oxygen film adsorbed at the void facets. By a similar mechanism, platelet shape is developed in nitrogen-doped crystals.