Abstract
Structurally integrated silicon nitride layers have been formed on the surface of crystalline silicon, using the process of nitrogen ion implantation. The as‐implanted as well as thermally regrown samples have been examined using a thin layer sensitive internal friction technique and infrared transmission measurements. The types of defects formed due to the implantation process and their activation energies have been obtained, along with the information regarding the recovery of the defective as‐implanted state during thermal annealing. The internal friction apparatus used in the mechanical measurements on thin silicon reeds is based on the design of Berry et al., wherein one essentially looks for the damping of a resonant flexural mode of oscillation of the reed sample as a function of temperature in a vacuum of 10−6 Torr. This allows one to obtain the information regarding the defect induced anelasticity in thin crystalline samples at an atomic level. In the present case, we have identified defects having activation energies of 0.5 and 0.65 eV produced due to implantation and their transformation into another defect state of activation energy 0.8 eV during thermal treatment. It has been established that the ion‐bombardment process leaves the silicon layers with a large percentage of self‐interstitials in a strain field. The thermal annealing leads to a release of the structural strain and a development of the silicon–nitride phase. The possibility and importance of using the internal friction technique in studying the interface defects in metastable and modulated semiconductor structures are discussed.
Published Version
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