Simulating the Effects of Internal Mechanical Stresses on the Decomposition Kinetics of a Supersaturated Oxygen Solution in Silicon

We justify and exactly formulate a method for simulating the effect of mechanical stresses induced in a system silicon matrix–oxygen precipitate (SiO 2 ) on the rates of fundamental processes determining the kinetics of precipitation. The developed model is based on the classical theory of kinetics of the first-order phase transitions with regard to the observed features of the SiO 2 particle growth in silicon (two-stage precipitation) and the main relations of the theory of elasticity. The proposed approach is used to establish and analyze the dependences of the main kinetic parameters describing the variations in the number of critical nuclei of the precipitate phase on the characteristics of the interfacial mechanical stresses induced and developed during the postcrystallization cooling of silicon wafers.