The Effect of Postgrowth Annealing on the Dislocation Structure of Germanium Crystals

The effect of postgrowth annealing on the dislocation structure of low-dislocation-density germanium single crystals 100 mm in diameter, grown by the Czochralski method, has been studied. The annealing was performed under isothermal conditions at 700°C for 40 h in the thermal unit of the growth system after detaching the crystal from the melt, before cooling. It was found that the dislocation density in the crystals subjected to postgrowth annealing ranges from 14 to 105 cm–2, which is on average five times lower than in the crystals grown under identical conditions but without annealing.