The recombination of intrinsic point defects in dislocation-free Si single crystals was investigated. It was established experimentally and confirmed by thermodynamic calculations that this process in the vicinity of the crystallization front was hindered by the recombination barrier. The recombination parameters (such as the recombination barrier height, the recombination time, and the recombination factor) for the model describing the dynamics of point defects at low and high temperatures were evaluated in terms of the heterogeneous mechanism of nucleation and transformation of grown-in microdefects. It was confirmed that the decomposition of a supersaturated solid solution of point defects could occur according to two mechanisms, namely, the vacancy and interstitial mechanisms. Vacancies and intrinsic interstitial Si atoms find sinks in the form of O and C background impurities. It was demonstrated that the formation of “intrinsic-point-defect-impurity” pairs was a dominant process in the vicinity of the melting temperature.

On the Recombination of Intrinsic Point Defects in Dislocation-Free Silicon Single Crystals. V.I.Talanin, I.E.Talanin: Physics of the Solid State, 2007, 49[3], 467-71