Correlation between carbon incorporation and defect formation in quasi-single crystalline silicon

We investigated the correlation between C incorporation and defect generation in quasi-single crystalline silicon ingots. The substitutional carbon concentration and etch pit density in the ingot fabricated with atmosphere control to suppress C incorporation were much lower than those in the ingot fabricated without controll. In addition, the precipitates consisted of C, N and Si were confirmed in the ingot fabricated without control. After the precipitation, small-angle grain boundaries (SA-GBs) were generated. We consider that the precipitation were the origin of SA-GBs, therefore the crystalline defect density can be decreased by reducing the incorporation of C impurities during crystal growth.