A 300 mm, p-type, < 100 >-oriented nitrogen-doped Czochralski (NCZ) silicon crystal was grown in a Keyex MCZ 150 crystal puller equipped with cusp magnetic field. In order to dope nitrogen into the crystal, the primary protection gas of argon was mixed with high-purity nitrogen gas at a flow rate ratio of 10:1. Due to the long time growth of crystal, any perturbation due to the SiO and cristobalite particles at the crystal/melt interface would generate dislocation in the crystal. In order to avoid this 'disaster' during the crystal growth, a thermal shield in connection with a protection gas director was used, thereby generating a sweeping flow over the melt to drive the SiO and cristobalite particles out of the crystal/melt interface. The oxygen precipitation behavior of a near-seed-end wafer subjected to 800 degrees C/8h + 1000 degrees C/16h was investigated. It was found that oxygen precipitation within the P-band was stronger than that in the region outside of the P-band, which is generally not the case for the conventional Czochralski (CZ) wafer with P-band. Based on this result, it is deduced that the grown-in oxygen precipitates existing in the P-band are relatively smaller in size but with higher density compared to those in the CZ crystal. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.