The interstitial nature of electrically active defects which were observed in surface pre-amorphized, and subsequently annealed, p-type samples was established by comparing the thermal evolution of electrically active defects during rapid thermal annealing; with and without Ti films. Detailed analyses of deep level transient spectroscopic and transmission electron microscopic results suggested that some of these defects were small interstitial clusters. The results also suggested that the release of self-interstitials from end-of-range extended defects, and their subsequent diffusion into the bulk, were involved in the formation of the hole trap levels which were observed after high-temperature rapid thermal annealing.

Electrically Active Defects in Surface Pre-Amorphized Si under Rapid Thermal Annealing and their Removal by Concurrent Titanium Silicidation D.Z.Chi, S.Ashok, D.Theodore: Applied Physics Letters, 1999, 75[24], 3802-4