Effect of the silicon/oxide interface on interstitials: Di-interstitial recombination

Interstitials can recombine at an oxide/silicon interface. Previous experimental work produces contradictory results. Transient enhanced diffusion experiments suggest a nearly infinite surface recombination rate, while oxidation enhanced diffusion suggests a much weaker recombination rate. A di-interstitial mechanism is investigated, and analytic solutions are developed. This is compared to the more commonly used interstitial mechanism. The di-interstitial mechanism can account for most of the discrepancy in the data.