A study was made of the influence of the so called bond defect, in the Si amorphization process, by using molecular dynamics simulation techniques. The bond defect consisted of a local distortion of the Si lattice, with no excess or deficit of atoms, and it could be formed during ion-beam bombardment. Even though the bond defect lifetime was too short to justify damage accumulation at normal implantation temperatures, it was observed that the interaction between close bond defects could generate more stable structures which behaved like the amorphous pockets created by ion irradiation. It was also seen that the recombination of a given amount of damage created by bond defect accumulation depended upon its spatial distribution.

The Role of the Bond Defect on Silicon Amorphization - a Molecular Dynamics Study. L.A.Marqués, L.Pelaz, M.Aboy, J.Vicente, J.Barbolla: Computational Materials Science, 2003, 27[1-2], 6-9