The interaction between vacancy emitting/absorbing precipitates and dislocations in silicon as investigated by transmission electron microscopy

Abstract

The annealing behaviour of copper precipitate colonies in silicon has been followed in a hot stage electron microscope. The colonies displayed a two-stage dissolution process. During the first stage dislocation segments were observed to climb, dragging along the attached precipitates. This stage was followed by the generation of small dislocation loops or dipoles from the dissolving precipitates. The driving forces for the dislocation/particle migration were elastic forces and osmotic forces generated by the vacancy-emitting dissolving precipitates. The precipitates move by interface diffusion, and the migration energy for matrix atoms in the precipitate/matrix interface is estimated at about 2·5 eV.