Effect of magnetic field on dislocation-oxygen impurity interaction in silicon

Dislocation-oxygen impurity interaction in Czochralski-grown silicon crystals was influenced by treatments at temperature of 650 °C under a magnetic field up to 8 T. It was found that the critical stress for dislocation generation from a surface scratch varies with an intensity of the applied magnetic field and duration of the magnetic treatment. The generation of dislocations was effectively suppressed under certain conditions of the magnetic treatments. Such phenomena could not be detected in float-zone-grown silicon crystals. The results were discussed in terms of spin-dependent solid-state reaction in atomic bindings with impurity atoms around dislocation core, causing immobilization of dislocations in their macroscopic generation process.