Effect of oxide precipitates on minority-carrier lifetime in Czochralski-grown silicon

Abstract
The effect of oxide precipitate in Czochralski-grown silicon crystals on minority-carrier lifetime was investigated. The oxide precipitates, generated by heterogeneous nucleation in as-grown crystals were found to decrease the lifetime. On the other hand, the oxide precipitates generated by homogeneous nucleation decreased the lifetime when their length was greater than 100 Å. The minority-carrier lifetime was nearly proportional to the reciprocal of the oxide precipitate length.