Residual damage to an atomically cleaned low-temperature-annealed Si(100) surface

A study of the residual damage to an atomically clean Si(100) surface obtained by low-energy ion sputtering followed by low-temperature annealing has been made. For the sputtering Ne, Ar, and Kr ions were used in the 1–4-keV energy range. The surface was annealed at a temperature of 720 °C. Residual damage to atomically clean Si surface was evaluated by excess-minority-carrier surface lifetime, and Rutherford backscattering measurements combined with channeling measurement. Residual damage to the Ar-sputtered and annealed surface was higher than that for the other gases.