Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2011
Infrared absorption by localized vibrational modes has been used to investigate rapid thermal annealing (RTA) of oxygen-vacancy (O-V) defects in O-implanted Si. At least three processes are involved in the annealing of O-V defects. An activation energy of 1.0 ± 0.2 eV for a process leading to O-V formation is attributed to O-V diffusion. The final O-V annealing stage is attributed to oxygen clustering around O2-V centers. Processes observed here in RTA are expected to be operative during implantation at the temperatures (400 to 600°C) used for production of silicon-on-insulator structures.