Interaction of deuterium with defects in silicon studied by means of channeling

The lattice location of deuterium ion-implanted at low temperatures into silicon has been studied by means of the channeling technique. The channeling analysis is carried out at 30 K along the major axes and planes by means of the D(³He,p)⁴He nuclear reaction. Irradiation at 30 K with the analyzing beam induces a dramatic annealing of lattice defects, and during this process, deuterium atoms are trapped at defects. After the beam-induced annealing, 80% of the deuterium atoms are located close to bond-center sites, while the remaining 20% are located close to tetrahedral sites. After annealing at {~}140 K, the fraction of deuterium atoms located close to bond-center sites decreases to 70%, whereas the near-tetrahedral component increases to 30%. The near-tetrahedral component anneals out at {~}500 K, where all the deuterium atoms are moving to near bond-center sites. The results are discussed together with previous infrared-absorption studies, and a consistent interpretation is presented.