It was recalled that stress was generally perceived to be detrimental to multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si); leading to dislocation multiplication during crystal growth and processing. Here, the role of stress as a driving force for dislocation density reduction in mc-Si was evaluated. At high temperatures, close to the melting point (>0.8Tm), it was observed that the application of stress as well as the relief of residual stress, could modify the density of pre-existing dislocations in as-grown mc-Si under certain conditions, leading to a net local reduction in dislocation density.

Stress-Enhanced Dislocation Density Reduction in Multicrystalline Silicon. M.I.Bertoni, D.M.Powell, M.L.Vogl, S.Castellanos, A.Fecych, T.Buonassisi: Physica Status Solidi - Rapid Research Letters, 2011, 5[1], 28–30