Enhanced annihilations of self-interstitial clusters by vacancies transported through vehicle action of Cu in Cu-implanted silicon crystals

Thermal behaviors of intrinsic defect clusters (self-interstitials and vacancies) in silicon crystals implanted with several metals including Cu were observed by photoluminescence measurements to investigate the influences of the metals on the diffusion of the intrinsic defects. Enhanced annihilations (EAs) of the defect clusters were observed only for an oxygen-lean floating zone (FZ) crystal implanted with Cu and annealed at temperatures between 400 °C and 600 °C, while they were not observed for any types of crystals (n- and p-type FZ and Czochralski crystals) implanted with Fe and Cr. The EAs of the defect clusters were well explained by a vehicle action of fast diffusing Cu for vacancy transportation.