Method for producing a silicon single crystal having few crystal defects

Abstract

A method for producing a silicon single crystal in accordance with the Czochralski method. The single crystal is grown in an N.sub.2 (V) region where a large amount of precipitated oxygen and which is located within an N region located outside an OSF ring region, or is grown in a region including the OSF ring region, N.sub.1 (V) and N.sub.2 (V) regions located inside and outside the OSF ring region, in a defect distribution chart which shows a defect distribution in which the horizontal axis represents a radial distance D (mm) from the center of the crystal and the vertical axis represents a value of F/G (mm.sup.2 /.degree.C..multidot.min), where F is a pulling rate (mm/min) of the single crystal, and G is an average intra-crystal temperature gradient (.degree.C./mm) along the pulling direction within a temperature range of the melting point of silicon to 1400.degree. C. The method allows production of silicon single crystal wafers in which neither FPDs nor L/D defects exist on the wafer surface, and gettering capability stemming from oxygen precipitation is provided over the entire wafer surface, and silicon single crystal wafers wherein OSF nuclei exit but no OSF ring appears when the wafer is subjected to thermal oxidation treatment, neither FPDs nor L/D defects exist on the wafer surface, and gettering capability is provided over the entire wafer surface.