EFFECTS OF OXYGEN DOPING AND SUBSEQUENT ANNEALING IN NITROGEN ON THE STRUCTURE OF POLYCRYSTALLINE SILICON

We have used reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) to study (i) the structure (surface crystallinity) of semi-insulating polycrystalline silicon (SIPOS) layers having a wide range of oxygen doping and (ii) the effect of subsequent annealing on that structure. Our results are consistent with a model in which (i) excess O exists in the form of silicon oxide at the intergrain boundaries, (ii) the presence of this intergrain oxide tends to prevent grain growth during annealing, and (iii) sufficiently large O doping completely suppresses observable grain growth during annealing.