Size-distribution and annealing behavior of end-of-range dislocation loops in silicon-implanted silicon

A study of end-of-range (EOR) dislocation loops in silicon implanted with 50 keV 10¹⁶ Si/cm² was carried out by using transmission electron microscopy. Two kinds of post-implantation anneals were performed, furnace anneals at 850°C and rapid thermal anneals at 1000°C. We observed the ripening for two types of EOR dislocation loops. They were faulted Frank dislocation loops and perfect prismatic dislocation loops. By separating their size distribution profiles, we found that their distribution profiles are different from that of conventional Ostwald ripening for precipitates. A long tail distribution profile was formed for perfect prismatic dislocation loops. We analyzed the distribution profiles and found that the size distribution profile of faulted Frank dislocation loops could be well fitted by a normal Gaussian probability function and that of perfect prismatic dislocation loops by a log-normal Gaussian probability function. Measurement of the total number of interstitials within both types of loops shows that the ripening of EOR dislocation loops is conservative. Knowing the size-distribution profiles of the EOR dislocation loops, it was possible to perform an analysis of the ripening behavior of the two types of dislocation loops. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.