Thermal acceptors in irradiated silicon

Comparative analysis of the conditions for the formation of shallow accepto r centers upon high-temperature annealing in silicon irradiated with electr ons, neutrons, and energetic ions is performed. The introduction of a suffi ciently large (in comparison with the initial concentration of impurities a nd defects) concentration of radiation-induced distortions of the silicon l attice is shown to lead to the formation of thermal acceptors stable up to annealing temperature of similar to 650 degrees C. The acceptor formation i s supposed to be due to the interaction of background acceptor impurities ( supposedly boron) with vacancies "stored" in multivacancy clusters and rele ased upon their breakup. (C) 2000 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".