Residual stress and dislocations density in silicon ribbons grown via optical zone melting

Abstract

We investigate the relationships between growth rate, time-temperature profile, residual stress, dislocation density, and electrical performance of silicon ribbons grown via optical zone melting. The time-temperature profiles of ribbons grown at different velocities were investigated using direct measurements and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling. Residual stresses up to 20 MPa were measured using infrared birefringence imaging. The effect of crystallization speed on dislocation density and residual stress is discussed from the context of thermal stresses during growth. More broadly, we demonstrate the usefulness of combining spatially resolved stress and microstructure measurements with CFD simulations toward optimizing kerfless silicon wafer quality.