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Observation of Vacancy Clustering in Si Crystals During in Situ Electron Irradiation in a High Voltage Electron Microscope
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
Abstract
The formation of vacancy clusters in various Si crystals covered with SiO2 and Si3N4 films has been studied by means of high-voltage and high-resolution electron microscopy using electron beam energies of 1000 and 400 keV, respectively, and at temperatures between 20 and 250°C. Small vacancy clusters of about 2-5 nm in the form of Frank dislocation loops and stacking fault tetrahedra were observed by irradiating the thinnest areas (< 20 nm) of the investigated silicon specimens. Vacancy clustering seems to be more complicated in the thicker parts (> 20 nm) of irradiated crystals. We assume that in these areas vacancy clusters may be formed only in Si layers near the interfaces Si-SiO2 or Si-Si3N4 and they may interact with interstitials without full recombination of the defects. This leads to the appearance of a new form of interstitial clusters such as {111}-defects as well as the usual interstitial {113}-defects associated with vacancy clusters during prolonged irradiation in the HVEM.
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- Copyright © Materials Research Society 1996
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