On the kinetics of the formation of interstitial Fe-vacancy pairs in silicon at high temperatures

Radioactive Mn-57(+) ions (T-1/2 = 1.5 min) of 60 keV energy have been implanted to low fluences into silicon crystals held at temperatures of 470-820 K. Most of the implantation damage is annealed during the Mn-57 lifetime and the Mn-57 atoms are incorporated on substitutional sites. Interstitial Fe (Fe-i) and a vacancy are created at these temperatures by the recoil in the nuclear decay of the substitutional Mn-57 atoms to the Mossbauer state (T-1/2 = 100 ns) of the Fe-57m daughter atoms. The formation of Fe-i-V pairs during the lifetime of the state has been observed by Mossbauer spectroscopy; the temperature-dependent kinetics of the process is consistent with the known Fei diffusion activation energies and not with those for vacancies. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.