The generation of vacancy-related point defects in low-dose 1.3MeV proton-irradiated high-purity material was investigated The dose rate was varied so as to impart a total dose of 5 x 109/cm2 at irradiation temperatures ranging from 70 to 295K. A decrease in the production of room-temperature stable vacancy-related defects, with increasing dose rate, was shown to be thermally activated and to involve the long-range migration of Si self-interstitials. This dose-rate effect was used to deduce a value of 0.065eV for the migration energy of the Si interstitial at room temperature and below. This constituted an experimental estimate of the interstitial migration energy. The low value suggested that ionization-enhanced diffusion was important for the motion of Si interstitials.

Migration Energy for the Silicon Self-Interstitial A.Hallén, N.Keskitalo, L.Josyula, B.G.Svensson: Journal of Applied Physics, 1999, 86[1], 214-6