(Invited) Advances in Silicon Crystal Properties

Abstract

The defect situations as they are presented in different categories of silicon material are briefly described. It is stated that oxygen or carbon are predominant factors in forming localized defects. After a brief introduction into lattice kinetics of gettering, different aspects of defect engineering are discussed. For dislocation-free crystals, this article mainly concentrates on the kinetics of two types of defects: oxygen swirl and haze. Substantial efforts to prevent their formation in the surface region of the wafer by applying either internal or external gettering methods have been made more recently. The special nature of polycrystal-line silicon solidified from the molten state, finally represents a different system of internal gettering.