An investigation was made of the effect of oxygen precipitates upon dislocation motion in Czochralski silicon by using the indentation technique. It was found that the gliding distances of dislocations were much smaller in samples containing a density of oxygen precipitates of the order of 109/cm3 than in control samples with no marked oxygen precipitates. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that oxygen precipitates could indeed pin the dislocations generated at high temperatures. Such a pinning effect was proved to be dependent on the density and size of oxygen precipitates. The particle strengthening mechanism was tentatively adopted to explain the suppression of dislocation motion by the oxygen precipitates in CZ silicon.

Effect of Oxygen Precipitates on Dislocation Motion in Czochralski Silicon. Z.Zeng, X.Ma, J.Chen, D.Yang, I.Ratschinski, F.Hevroth, H.S.Leipner: Journal of Crystal Growth, 2010, 312[2], 169-73