Extended defect generation by Xenon implantation in silicon

We investigate the behavior of the Xe in the Si lattice re-growth after the implantation, varying the temperature of the annealing (750-1100°C) and the Xe dose. The Xe is implanted alone or with the species generally used to form the junction in VLSI Si devices. The TEM analysis detects 3 types of defect: the stacking faults, the agglomerations of Xe and the EOR defects. Moreover some amorphous areas are left in Si for the lowest thermal budget and the highest dose of Xe. The experimental observations show that: the Xe presence blocks the epitaxial re-growth, the Xe tends to agglomerate, the higher the thermal budget the more Xe exit from the Si and finally the co-implantation increases the defects density. This study reports also results of ab-initio calculations that are able to highlight some trends of the Xe agglomerate in term of their stability and configuration.