Electrical charge-trapping characteristics were studied experimentally, in thermal oxides that had been implanted with Si, by using electron spin resonance, capacitance-voltage measurements, transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Theoretical studies were carried out by using density functional theory, with plane waves. An examination was made of possible defect structures which were associated with excess Si in thermal oxides.

Defects and Nanocrystals Generated by Si Implantation into a-SiO2. C.J.Nicklaw, M.P.Pagey, S.T.Pantelides, D.M.Fleetwood, R.D.Schrimpf, K.F.Galloway, J.E.Wittig, B.M.Howard, E.Taw, W.H.McNeil, J.F.Conley: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 2000, 47[6], 2269-75