On the nature of the defect reverse annealing in ion-implanted silicon

Abstract The reasons resulting in the reverse annealing of the defects in ion-implanted Si layers in 550–650°C temperature range have been studied by EPR technique. The reverse annealing is shown to appear in the samples implanted with the gaseous impurities (Ar, Ne, 02, N2) at the dose 4–5 × 1016 cm−2. Further increase in the noble gas ion dose leads to the growth of the reverse annealing intensity and for O+ 2 and N+ 2 ions it decreases. We have not observed the reverse annealing in Si+ ion-implanted Si in all dose range studied (1015–1017 cm−2). The reverse annealing of the VV-centres was found to take place in the temperature range of the annealing of the new paramagnetic defect labeled the C8-centre (g = 2.0046 0.0002, AH = 1.6 mT). The C8-centres are suggested to be the gas bubbles formed both at ion implantation and during the consequent annealing up to 500°C. Another possible explanation is that C8-centres at 520°C leads to the VV-centres production. It manifests itself as the reverse annealing. T...