Patent ID: 6866713

Claim:
A process for preparing a single crystal silicon ingot, grown in accordance with the Czochralski method, the process comprising: heating polycrystalline silicon in a crucible to form a silicon melt; selecting a seed crystal for contacting the crystal melt, said seed crystal having crystal lattice vacancies as the predominant intrinsic point defect therein; contacting said seed crystal to the silicon melt until the seed crystal begins to melt, forming dislocations therein; withdrawing the seed crystal from the melt to grow a neck portion of the ingot, wherein during the withdrawal dislocations are eliminated from the neck; growing an outwardly flaring seed-cone adjacent the neck portion of the ingot; and, growing a main body adjacent the outwardly flaring seed-cone, the body having a nominal diameter of at least about 150 mm.