Abstract
We have examined a mechanism of Si amorphization, by a classical molecular-dynamics, paying attention to whether or not the self-interstitial atom (SIA) clusters were a precursor to amorphization, when a crystalline Si was self-irradiated by several keV ions at a low temperature of 100 K. The pixel mapping (PM) analyzed crystallographically a crystalline to amorphous (CA) transition caused by ion irradiation by means of a set of long-range-order parameters. The spatial distribution of SIAs were also counted by PM. Throughout the sequential self-irradiation, the fraction of isolated SIAs was dominant. Although the fractions were small, we found the significant increase of small SIA clusters, e.g. I2–I4, as the crystalline state was being collapsed. We conclude that those small SIA clusters can be the trigger to enhance the production of more SIAs, and results in CA transition.
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