INTERACTION BETWEEN A MONOVACANCY AND A VACANCY CLUSTER IN SILICON

The interaction between two vacancies has been investigated in silicon by molecular-dynamics simulations. We introduce the concept of captur e radius r(c), according to which the most stable configuration for a vacancy pair is a bound divacancy whenever the two defects are placed at distances smaller than r(c). We also investigate the trapping mecha nism of a monovacancy at a vacancy complex and discuss the energetics of early stages of aggregation of small vacancy clusters. [S0163-1829( 98)04012-0].