Quantification of defect dynamics in unsteady-state and steady-state Czochralski growth of monocrystalline silicon

• Published in: Journal of the Electrochemical Society Vol. 151; no. 10; pp. G663 - G678
• Main Authors: KULKARNIU, Milind S, VORONKOV, Vladimir, FALSTER, Robert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pennington, NJ Electrochemical Society 2004
• Subjects: Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Defects and impurities in crystals; microstructure; Exact sciences and technology; Materials science; Methods of crystal growth; physics of crystal growth; Physics; Structure of solids and liquids; crystallography; Theories and models of crystal defects; Theory and models of crystal growth; physics of crystal growth, crystal morphology and orientation; Voids; Crystal growth; Crystal defect cluster; Crystal defects; Elemental semiconductors; Digital simulation; Theoretical study; Crystal nucleation; Czochralski method; Dislocation loops
• ISSN: 0013-4651; 1945-7111
• DOI: 10.1149/1.1785792

Most common microdefects in Czochralski silicon, voids and dislocation loops, are formed by agglomeration of point defects, vacancies, and self-interstitials, respectively. Dynamics of formation and growth of the microdefects along with the entire crystal pulling process is simulated. The Frenkel reaction, the transport and nucleation of the point defects, and the growth of the microdefects are considered to occur simultaneously. The nucleation is modeled using the classical nucleation theory. The microdefects are approximated as spherical clusters, which grow by a diffusion-limited kinetics. The microdefect distribution at any given location is captured on the basis of the formation and path histories of the clusters. The microdefect type and size distributions in crystals grown under various steady states as well as unsteady states are predicted. The developed one-dimensional model captures the salient features of defect dynamics and reveals significant differences between the steady-state defect dynamics and the unsteady-state defect dynamics. The model predictions agree very well with the experimental observations. Various predictions of the model are presented, and results are discussed.