About the internal pressure in cavities derived from implantation-induced blistering in semi-conductors

Silicon and germanium wafers were implanted with hydrogen at high fluence and then submitted to thermal treatment at low temperature. By means of atomic force microscopy observations and finite elements simulations, the internal pressure under the resulting blisters appearing onto the surface has been determined. It is found that the internal pressure could be strongly overestimated from calculation if the internal compressive stresses in the implanted layers are neglected and/or incorrect boundary conditions are used.