Self-interstitials have never been observed in crystalline Si. How about amorphous Si?

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the early days of point defect studies in electron irradiated crystalline silicon, it was surmised that the Si self-interstitial is highly mobile even at 4 K and escapes direct detection. The existence of self-interstitials has of course been confirmed through the diffusion behaviour of a range of impurities and the direct observation of larger interstitial-type clusters. Against this background, the direct observation of self-interstitials in amorphous Si would seem next to impossible. Yet just such an observation may have been made recently, through a comparison of the high-resolution radial distribution function of pure amorphous Si before and after thermal anneal and that of crystalline Si.