Small angle neutron scattering from oxygen precipitates in silicon

The formation of silicon oxide precipitates from Czochralski grown silicon depends on the time and temperature of the heat treatment as well as on the initial content of interstitially dissolved oxygen. Samples containing between 5×10¹⁷ O_i/cm³ and 13×10¹⁷ O_i/cm³ have been heated at 750° C for 96 h. SiO₂ precipitates of various shape and size have been obtained and investigated by means of small angle neutron scattering (SANS) in the Q-range 0.05 Å^–1<Q<0.2 Å^–1. The obtained SANS patterns reveal a typical anisotropy of their intensity distribution, which splits into a central peak at Q<0.1 Å^–1 due to the shape of the individual particles and a number of weak intensities for large Q-values, originating from a correlation between defects, possibly between the precipitates. While these correlation peaks in the SANS patterns are seen best for rather low values of about (5–7)×10¹⁷ O_i/cm³ oxygen content, the central peak anisotropy is most pronounced for higher values of ca 10×10¹⁷ O_i/cm³. The integrated intensity of the central peak increases with increasing initial oxygen content. For comparison, untreated samples of the same initial oxygen content do not reveal any anisotropic SAN scattering or a broadened central peak beam.