Damage nucleation and annealing in MeV ion-implanted Si

The damage produced in Si by high-energy MeV ions and its low-temperature annealing behavior are discussed. The damage morphology clearly shows that there are distinct regions in which different damage nucleation and growth mechanisms are dominant. A model is proposed to account for the observations. Both electron microscopy and Rutherford backscattering were used to characterize the damage distributions, while the annealing behavior of the damage helped in identifying some of the defects.