Etherogeneous precipitation in oxygen-implanted silicon

SiO2 precipitation in high-fluence oxygen-implanted silicon takes place in three regions: the region centred on the depth xdam of maximum damage production, the region centred on the most probable penetration depth xmax, and a region at greater depth x‡. At fluences Φ for which compositional changes and sputtering are of lower importance, xmax and xdam do not depend on Φ (they depend only on the implantation energy E); in contrast, x‡ varies significantly with Φ. The mechanism of SiO2 precipitation at xdam is heterogeneous precipitation; the mechanism active at xmax is homogeneous precipitation; the mechanism active at x‡ (Φ), referred to as etherogeneous precipitation, is a new mechanism characteristics of these mechanisms or for the prevalence of one or the other of them after high temperature annealin is given for Φ in the interval 5 × 1015 - 2.5 × 1017 cm−2 and for E between 100 keV and 200 keV.