Annealing mechanisms of divacancies in silicon

By combining infrared and positron annihilation spectroscopy new insight has been gained into the mechanism(s) by which divacancies in silicon anneal. Isothermal and isochronal annealings of 8 MeV proton irradiated Si strongly suggest two processes,one due to recombination with interstitials and the other due to vacancy agglomeration. The two processes have nearly the same activation energy. r 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 61.72.Cc; 61.72.Ji; 68.80.Jh