Influence of hydrogen and oxygen on the melt properties and the crystal growth in silicon

The influence of hydrogen and oxygen on the density of the silicon melt has been studied. The density of the oxygen-containing melt is identical with that without oxygen and shows an anomalous increase of the density near the melting point. The melt density in an argon gas ambient mixed with 7.15% hydrogen is equivalent to that in a pure argon gas at the melting temperature, but showed greater values at higher temperatures (1430–1500 °C). The density of the silicon melt at 1430 °C increases over 5 h after completion of melting. We found that such time-dependent change of the melt properties influences the formation of grown-in defects during crystal growth.