The energetics of the most frequently found extended defects were reviewed, and the mechanisms by which these defects grew in size and transformed during annealing were described. The defects grew by interchanging the Si atoms of which they were composed, and thus maintained large supersaturations of free Si interstitials in the region. A model was developed in order to describe such evolution in the presence of a free surface. It was shown that, after low-energy implantation, the surface of the wafer could recombine large numbers of these free Si interstitials; thus driving defects into dissolution before transformation into more stable forms.

Extended Defects in Shallow Implants. A.Claverie, B.Colombeau, B.de Mauduit, C.Bonafos, X.Hebras, G.Ben Assayag, F.Cristiano: Applied Physics A, 2003, 76[7], 1025-33