The identity of B clusters and B interstitial clusters in Si, produced by radiation or implantation, was studied theoretically. Local vibration modes of the single-B interstitial and the diboron split interstitial (B2I) and its metastable isomer as well as substitutional dimers were found to be in good agreement with observations. The modes of a diboron defect that has trapped three interstitials B2I3 were close to those observed for the B-related I2 luminescent center. The annealing of these centers around 400C coincides with the main recovery of the electrical activity of B, but the formation of defects which were metastable casts doubt on previous modeling strategies.

Identification of Boron Clusters and Boron-Interstitial Clusters in Silicon. J.Adey, J.P.Goss, R.Jones, P.R.Briddon: Physical Review B, 2003, 67[24], 245325 (5pp)