Direct evidence for 8-interstitial-controlled nucleation of extended defects in c-Si

The areal density of extended defects in P-implanted and annealed Si is obs erved to increase with ion dose to the power 8. A simple model based on Poi sson statistics applied to point defects created during ion implantation sh ows that such a dependence corresponds to enhanced stability of interstitia l clusters consisting of at least eight interstitial atoms, and it implies an interstitial "clustering" radius of 0.8 nm. The direct observation of "n =8" confirms the curious behavior observed earlier in transient-enhanced di ffusion of B in Si, and provides a quantitative explanation of the threshol d dose for the formation of extended defects in ion-implanted Si. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(01)03001-7].