Oxygen-related defects in silicon-on-insulator wafers probed monoenergetic positron beams

Si-on-insulator (SOI) wafers fabricated by SIMOX and bond-and-etch-back technique were characterized by monoenergetic positron beams. Oxygen-related defects were found to be present in SOI layers, and the mean open volume of such defects in SIMOX wafers was estimated to be larger than that of a hexavacancy. The interaction between the defects in the SOI layers and hydrogen was also studied.