Ion implantation effects in silicon with high carbon content characterised by photoluminescence

The evolution with annealing of defects in self-ion implanted silicon with high carbon content has been investigated by photoluminescence (PL). The PL spectra show that the high-content carbon can effectively prevent the formation of {113} self-interstitial aggregates defect in silicon of implant dose 10(13) and 10(14) cm(-2) and largely suppress the formation of {113} defect at higher implant doses. By trapping and storing the excess interstitials a variety of stable carbon-related clusters are formed, which could persist to quite high annealing temperature. The strong asymmetry of the PL band near 910 meV, with a long tail on the high-energy side, may originate from the size distribution of Ostwald ripening carbon-related clusters. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.