Study of the influence of oxygen on structural perfection of silicon single crystals by high-resolution X-ray diffraction and infrared absorption measurements

The crystalline perfection of silicon crystals grown by the float zone (FZ) method is generally slightly lower than that of crystals grown by the Czochralski (Cz) technique, which have higher oxygen content. High-resolution X-ray diffraction studies and infrared-absorption measurements have shown that, if the level of oxygen in FZ silicon crystals is increased by annealing, from 1.3 × 1017 to 13 × 1017 atoms cm-3 (typical values for Cz crystals), the degree of perfection of FZ crystals increases remarkably, approaching that of the Cz crystals.