Binding of Copper and Nickel to Cavities in Silicon Formed by Helium Ion Implantation

Abstract

ABSTRACTCavities formed in Si by He ion implantation and annealing are shown be strong traps for Cu and Ni impurities. Experiments utilizing ion-beam analysis and transmission electron microscopy indicate that Cu is trapped at the internal surfaces of cavities up to ≈1 monolayer coverage with a binding energy of 2.2±0.2 eV relative to solution. This is greater than the heat of solution from the precipitated Cu3Si phase, determined to be 1.7 eV in agreement with earlier work. Copper at cavity-wall sites is reversibly replaced by H during heating in H2 gas, indicating the relative stability of the two surface terminations. Initial results for Ni impurities indicate that trapping at cavities is again energetically preferred to suicide formation. The saturation coverage of Ni on the internal surfaces, however, is an order of magnitude smaller for Ni than Cu, consistent with published studies of external-surface adsorption. These results suggest that cavity trapping may getter metallic impurities in Si more effectively than methods based on suicide precipitation.