It was recalled that interstitials could recombine at oxide/Si interfaces, but previous experimental work had produced conflicting results. Transient enhanced diffusion experiments suggested a nearly infinite surface recombination rate, while oxidation-enhanced diffusion suggested a much weaker recombination rate. A di-interstitial surface recombination mechanism, which had originally been proposed in order to account for the time dependence of oxidation-enhanced diffusion, could explain many inconsistencies in the reported effect of the surface upon interstitials. Over long lateral distances, the interstitial decay approximated an exponential function, with a limiting decay length that was of the order of tens of microns. But, over short distances, the fall-off was much more rapid. A best-fit exponential, over short lateral distances, indicated a decay length that was of the order of some tenths of a micron. This was consistent with several reported experimental observations of interstitial surface recombination behavior.

Effect of the Silicon/Oxide Interface on Interstitials: Di-Interstitial Recombination. M.E.Law, Y.M.Haddara, K.S.Jones: Journal of Applied Physics, 1998, 84[7], 3555-60