Identification of Extended Defect Atomic Configurations in Silicon Through Transmission Electron Microscopy Image Simulation

We used atomistic simulation tools to correlate experimental transmission electron microscopy images of extended defects in crystalline silicon with their structures at an atomic level. Reliable atomic configurations of extended defects were generated using classical molecular dynamics simulations. Simulated high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images of obtained defects were compared to experimental images reported in the literature. We validated the developed procedure with the configurations proposed in the literature for {113} and {111} rod-like defects. We also proposed from our procedure configurations for {111} and {001} dislocation loops with simulated HRTEM images in excellent agreement with experimental images.