GISAXS study of cavities and {113} defects induced by neon and helium implantation in silicon

Grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering experiments have been performed to study the morphology of nanocavities and {113} defects formed by implantation of 5 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻² neon and helium ions in Si(001) at 50 keV. The results show that spherical cavities are formed in Si(001) implanted with Ne ions at 873 K and in Si(001) implanted with He ions at 473 K subsequently annealed at 873 K. In contrast, He-induced cavities at 873 K show {111} facets and wide size distribution due to an enhanced He mobility at high temperature. In addition to the faceted cavities, the clustering of interstitials leads to the formation of large extended planar {113} defects whose size has been estimated to be about 100 nm.