Extended defect removal in silicon by rapid thermal annealing

Germanium, arsenic and krypton ions of 600 keV energy were implanted in silicon substrate at 250°C. The hot implantation results in the formation of extended defects (dislocation loops and cluster of point defects) as residual damage. Rapid thermal annealing process at a temperature above 1000°C was used to remove the damage. Rutherford-backscattering channelling technique was used to measure the amount of defects and their annealing. In some cases the channelling results were correlated to transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. The annealing process of the damage is governed by an activation energy of (4.4±0.2) eV for both germanium and arsenic implants. During RTA processes broadening of the As and Ge distributions is quite negligible. The Kr atoms interact instead with defects and the annealing even after a prolonged time at 1100°C is not complete, bubbles surrounded by extended defects are left