The annihilation of dislocation loops which had previously been introduced by ion bombardment (3 to 5keV Ar+), followed by threshold-energy electron irradiation, was investigated by means of transmission and high-resolution electron microscopy. It was found that, under electron irradiation, dislocation loops in the ion-bombarded samples contracted. On the other hand, the usual thermal annealing caused the loops to grow. The process accelerated as the irradiation temperature was increased to above 200C in a transmission electron microscope. This phenomenon was also observed at 173K. It was found that the loops lay in the {110} and {111} planes, with Burgers vectors of a/2<110> and a/6<112> in CdTe and a/2<110> and a/3<111> in ZnTe. The processes which were initiated by electron irradiation were more rapid in CdTe than in ZnTe. This difference was attributed to the difference in stacking fault energies. The results were explained in terms of an ionization-related below-threshold mechanism for defect formation.

J.J.Loginov: Fizika Tverdogo Tela, 1995, 37[6], 1703-12 (Physics of the Solid State, 1995, 37[6], 926-31)