Influence of post-annealing time on blistering evolution in Si 〈1 0 0〉 implanted with high-fluence H ions

The influence of post-annealing time on blistering characteristics induced by 5 × 1016 cm−2 ion-implanted H in Si <1 0 0> was studied in terms of the formation and growth of blisters. Ion energies consisted of 40 and 100 keV. Post-annealing treatments were carried out using furnace annealing (FA) at 400 and 500 °C for a duration of 0.25–3 h in a nitrogen ambient. Raman scattering spectroscopy (RSS), optical microscopy (OM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) were utilized to analyze the defect complex phases, the appearance of optically-detectable blisters and craters, the average depth of craters, and the hydrogen and oxygen depth profiles in the implanted layer, respectively. Furthermore, a characteristic time for the growth of optically-detectable blisters which was determined from the blister-covered fractions for various post-annealing times is proposed and used as a criterion to identify the effectiveness in the formation and growth of optically-detectable blisters. The results revealed that the characteristic time for the 400 °C-annealed specimens in the 40 keV implant is much shorter than it is in the 100 keV one. However, the characteristic time for the 500 °C-annealed specimens in the 40 keV implant is slightly longer than it is in the 100 keV implant. In addition, both the characteristic times for the 500 °C-annealed specimens are much shorter than those for the 400 °C ones. The above-mentioned phenomena hold true for craters.