Microstructure of irradiated silicon

This paper provides a brief overview of some issues relating to the microstructure of irradiated silicon which are of importance to the semiconductor industry. The nature of ion-induced disorder and conditions for amorphization are initially treated since the starting microstructure can strongly influences subsequent annealing behavior, particularly removal of residual defects, dopant diffusion and electrical activation. The use of implantation-induced disorder as a means of removing metallic impurities, so called gettering, is also an issue of major current interest for improved performance of devices. Some new gettering results are discussed