Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
X-ray section topography has been used to study the distribution and size of precipitates resulting from heat treatment of MCZ silicon. A low density of precipitates was found, enabling individual precipitate images to be studied. Images have been simulated by numerical solution of Takagi's equations and the magnitude of the strain field deduced by comparison with experiment. Excellent agreement has been found in the details of simulated and experimental images. The effective defect volume increased monotonically with annealing temperature. The effect of surface relaxation and long range curvature on the accuracy of determining the microscopic strain field by matching simulated and experimental images has been investigated.