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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

L. Fedina ,
J. Van Landuyt ,
J. Vanhellemont  and
A. Aseev
L. Fedina
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp, RUCA EMAT, Antwerp, Belgium Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia
J. Van Landuyt
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp, RUCA EMAT, Antwerp, Belgium
J. Vanhellemont
Affiliation:
IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
A. Aseev
Affiliation:
Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia
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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.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 404: Symposium J – In Situ Electron and Tunneling Microscopy of Dynamic Processes , 1995 , 189
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1996

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