Annealing kinetics of {311} defects and dislocation loops in the end-of-range damage region of ion implanted silicon

The evolution of both {311} defects and dislocation loops in the end-of-range (EOR) damage region in silicon amorphized by ion implantation was studied by ex situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The amorphization of a (100) n-type Czochralski wafer was achieved with a 20 keV 1×1015/cm2 Si+ ion implantation. The post-implantation anneals were performed in a furnace at 750 °C for times ranging from 10 to 370 min. After annealing the specimen for 10 min, the microstructure showed a collection of both {311} defects and small dislocation loops. The evolution of a specific group of defects was studied by repeated imaging of the same region after additional annealing. Quantitative TEM showed that {311} defects followed one of two possible evolutionary pathways as annealing times progressed; unfaulting to form dislocation loops or dissolving and releasing interstitials. Results indicate that in this temperature regime, {311} defects are the preferential site for dislocation loop nucleation.