Influence of neutron irradiation on the defect creation in thermally treated Cz silicon

Oxygen precipitation in neutron irradiated and thermally treated silicon crystals has been studied varying neutron fluence (1015 - 1019 n/см2) and annealing temperature (600 - 1000 oC). IR spectroscopy and selective etching were used for the investigation. It had been found that precipitation process was accelerated in irradiated silicon in wide temperature range. The precipitation rate has became weakly dependent on annealing temperature with fluence increasing above 1017 n/cm2 . These effects clearly show the main role of radiation point defects in the oxygen precipitation.