Amorphous Inclusions in Irradiated Silicon and Their Effects on Material and Device Properties

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science Vol. 55; no. 6; pp. 2992 - 2999
• Main Authors: Palko, J.W., Srour, J.R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.12.2008; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Amorphous materials; Atomic layer deposition; Atomic measurements; Crystalline materials; Damage; Defect clusters; Devices; displacement damage; Dominance; Electronic properties; Energy loss; Inclusions; Irradiation; molecular dynamics; Production; Protons; Radiation effects; Silicon; Thermal degradation
• ISSN: 0018-9499; 1558-1578
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2008.2006751

Clustered damage plays an important role in determining the electronic properties of silicon irradiated with particles having a relatively high rate of nonionizing energy loss. This damage has generally been treated as being heavily defected crystal, but substantial evidence points to amorphization. The structure of radiation-produced amorphous regions in silicon is modeled here using atomistic techniques. Those regions consist of a phase distinct from the surrounding crystal, and models based on amorphous inclusions can explain the dominance of clusters in determining key electronic properties in irradiated bulk material and devices.