OXIDE PRECIPITATION AT SILICON GRAIN-BOUNDARIES

Oxygen precipitates at various grain boundaries in crystalline silicon , formed after prolonged high temperature annealing, grow within a nar row size distribution. This narrow size distribution appears to depend on the specific grain boundary. On the basis of this observation a mo del is derived which is based on the energy balance between grain boun dary energy, Si/SiO2 interface energy, and an additional term describi ng the energy of the ledges of the faceted precipitates. This model pr edicts an energy minimum for a defined size of the precipitates. (C) 1 997 American Institute of Physics.