The effects of oxygen doping and subsequent annealing in nitrogen on the structure of polycrystalline silicon

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Abstract
We have used reflection high‐energy electron diffraction (RHEED) to study (i) the structure (surface crystallinity) of semi‐insulating polycrystalline silicon (SIPOS) layers having a wide range of oxygen doping and (ii) the effect of subsequent annealing on that structure. Our results are consistent with a model in which (i) excess O exists in the form of silicon oxide at the intergrain boundaries, (ii) the presence of this intergrain oxide tends to prevent grain growth during annealing, and (iii) sufficiently large O doping completely suppresses observable grain growth during annealing.