Effect of bombardment with iron ions on the evolution of helium, hydrogen, and deuterium blisters in silicon

Abstract

The effect of bombardment with iron ions on the evolution of gas porosity in silicon single crystals has been studied. Gas porosity has been produced by implantation hydrogen, deuterium, and helium ions with energies of 17, 12.5, and 20 keV, respectively, in identical doses of 1 × 10¹⁷ cm^–2 at room temperature. For such energy of bombarding ions, the ion doping profiles have been formed at the same distance from the irradiated surface of the sample. Then, the samples have been bombarded with iron Fe¹⁰⁺ ions with energy of 150 keV in a dose of 5.9 × 10¹⁴ cm^–2. Then 30-min isochoric annealing has been carried out with an interval of 50°C in the temperature range of 250–900°C. The samples have been analyzed using optical and electron microscopes. An extremely strong synergetic effect of sequential bombardment of silicon single crystals with gas ions and iron ions at room temperature on the nucleation and growth of gas porosity during postradiation annealing has been observed. For example, it has been shown that the amorphous layer formed in silicon by additional bombardment with iron ions stimulates the evolution of helium blisters, slightly retards the evolution of hydrogen blisters, and completely suppresses the evolution of deuterium blisters. The results of experiments do not provide an adequate explanation of the reason for this difference; additional targeted experiments are required.