EFFECT OF THE INTERATOMIC SI-SI-POTENTIAL ON VACANCY PRODUCTION DURING ION-IMPLANTATION OF SI

Collision cascades in crystalline silicon due to impinging 10 eV - 1 k eV Si atoms are simulated using molecular dynamics methods. The simula tions are carried out for 30-100 events to obtain representative stati stics for production of different types of vacancies. The results are used to examine the dependence of vacancy production on the interatomi c Si-Si potential between the colliding atoms. The dependence of the n umber of vacancies was found to be sensitive to the form of the potent ial well but not to the repulsive potential. The results suggest that within the heavily damaged volume of the collision cascade an interato mic potential with somewhat narrower well than that of the commonly us ed Stillinger-Weber potential should be used to simulate the vacancy p roduction in silicon.