ABSTRACT
This chapter gives a brief overview of different aspects of defects in crystalline silicon. It discusses the structural aspects of lattice defects and focuses on their electronic properties. It illustrates the defect generation and behaviour during integrated circuit processes, and also includes a short discussion on the impact of crystallographic defects on the electrical device performance. The number of intrinsic point defects in thermal equilibrium depends on the temperature and on their formation energy and can be estimated using basic statistical physics. The solubility of intrinsic point defects is less well known than that of extrinsic point defects as it is only accessible through indirect experiments. The Burgers vector can be obtained by drawing a Burgers circuit which is any closed loop around a dislocation going from atom to atom. Plastic deformation of silicon requires the presence of large numbers of dislocations.
