The Influence of Xenon and Argon Ion Irradiation Parameters on Defect Formation in Silicon

Single-crystal silicon has been irradiated with xenon ions at energies of 100 and 200 keV and argon ions at 110 keV. The irradiation fluence varied in the range of the displacement per atom (dpa) from 0.1 to 1 for both types of ions and selected energies. The influence of irradiation on the destruction of the silicon structure was studied using Rutherford backscattering (RBS) combined with channeling and Raman scattering (RS). The stages of silicon crystal structure destruction based on RBS and RS for different irradiation fluences are demonstrated. It is shown that defects accumulate in the modified layer as the fluence increases to a value corresponding to 0.5 dpa; then highly defective regions merge into amorphous layers. At a dpa of 1, the structure of a single crystal does not become disordered.