Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
The effects of oxygen and nitrogen on the mechanical properties of Czochralski (CZ) and float zone silicon have been studied using nano-indentation. Nitrogen free FZ Si exhibited low hardness of 6.49 GPa and elastic modulus of 104 GPa. When doped with 2×1015cm−3 nitrogen, FZ Si hardness and elastic modulus increased to 8.2 and 182 GPa, respectively. In the near-surface denuded zone of N-doped CZ Si (N-CZ) the hardness correlates well with the O and N profiles. Distinct high hardness points, found in the O- and N- rich subsurface region, were attributed to precipitates. Nano-scratch tests of N-CZ Si confirmed the existence of hard phases, mostly small precipitates, whose density, estimated to be 2×1013cm−3, is in the range of previously suggested nuclei density in as-grown N-CZ silicon.