It was shown that the investigation of substitutional transition-metal defects which were grown-in by using the float-zone technique could be used as a detection method for vacancies and self-interstitials. In order to interpret experimental results, approximate analytical solutions were derived for the temperature field in the growing crystal, for the transport equations which described the diffusion and recombination of intrinsic point defects and for the capture processes which were connected with the formation of substitutional transition-metal defects. The analysis was demonstrated for the case of dislocation-free float-zone crystals which were doped with Pt and Rh. The capture of interstitial transition-metal defects by vacancies took place within different temperature ranges; depending upon the metal type.

Impact of Vacancies and Self-Interstitials on the Formation of Substitutional Transition Metal Defects in Float-Zone Silicon Crystals H.Lemke, W.Zulehner: Physica B, 1999, 273-274, 398-403