The injection of point defects was studied by means of deep-level transient spectroscopy. Pre-implanted samples, which contained di-vacancies and O-vacancy pairs that had been created by 1.4 or 6MeV Ge ion implantation to a dose of 108/cm2, were used to monitor the injection of point defects. It was found that the evaporation of Pd onto pre-implanted material led to a significant reduction in both the di-vacancy and O-vacancy signals; thus indicating the injection of Si interstitials during silicide formation. On the other hand, the implantation of 52keV Ge ions to a dose of between 1013 and 5 x 1014/cm2 resulted only in a small reduction, in these signals, that was attributed to self-trapping of the created interstitials. It also prevented the reduction that arose from silicide formation, due to trapping of the injected interstitials in the damaged layer.

P.Kringhøj: Applied Physics Letters, 1996, 68[2], 247-9