Samples which contained a band of nano-cavities were bombarded with Si+ ions at high temperatures in order to study the interactions of bombardment-induced defects with open-volume defects. Following bombardment at 100C, nano-cavities were shown to be preferential nucleation sites for amorphization. It was suggested that this occurred in order to minimize the local free energy, so that less dense amorphous Si was free to expand into the cavity open-volume. Following bombardment at 300C, cavities were very efficient sinks for Si interstitials during irradiation; leaving a region which was denuded of interstitial-based clusters surrounding each nano-cavity.

Preferential Amorphization and Defect Annihilation at Nano-Cavities in Silicon during Ion Irradiation. J.S.Williams, X.Zhu, M.C.Ridgway, M.J.Conway, B.C.Williams, F.Fortuna, M.O.Ruault, H.Bernas: Applied Physics Letters, 2000, 77[26], 4280-2