A study was made of the effect of implantation-induced damage upon the optical absorption spectra of film samples. Various stages in the formation and quenching of di-vacancies were monitored, as a function of the implantation and annealing conditions, by using the 1.8 absorption band. The structural relaxation processes in implanted and sputtered amorphous material indicated that the process was associated with the annihilation of defects as well as with an average strain reduction in the material.

U.Zammit, K.N.Madhusoodanan, M.Marinelli, F.Scudieri, F.Mercuri, E.Wendler, W.Wesch: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 1995, 96[1-2], 241-4