DETERMINATION OF THE OXIDE-PRECIPITATE-SILICON-MATRIX INTERFACE ENERGY BY CONSIDERING THE CHANGE OF PRECIPITATE MORPHOLOGY

A model of strain relief via interactions with point defects during ox ygen precipitation is presented. Assuming that precipitation of oxygen is diffusion limited and that it evolves in such a way that the total system free energy is minimized the governing relations describing st rain relief are obtained. The impact of strain and of point defects on the precipitate morphology is addressed. The model is used to calcula te the precipitate-matrix interface energy using published data on pre cipitate morphology changes. The results suggest that the interface en ergy should be much larger than the presently well-accepted values. (C ) 1996 American Institute of Physics.