Formation and nature of swirl defects in silicon

Point defect agglomerates in dislocation-free silicon crystals, usually called “swirls”, have been investigated by means of high-voltage electron microscopy. It was found that a single swirl defect consists of a dislocation loop or a cluster of dislocation loops. By contrast experiments it could be shown that these loops are formed by agglomeration of self-interstitial atoms. Generally the loops have a/2〈110〉 Burgers vectors, but in specimens with high concentrations of carbon (～10¹⁷ cm^?3) and oxygen (～10¹⁶ cm^?3) also dislocation loops including a stacking fault were observed. In crystals grown at growth rates higher thanv=4 mm/min no swirls are observed; lower growth rates do not markedly affect the size and shape of the dislocation loops. With decreasing impurity content (particulary of oxygen and carbon) the swirl density decreases, whereas the dislocation loop clusters become larger and more complex. A model is presented which describes the formation of swirls in terms of agglomeration of silicon self-interstitials and impurity atoms.