Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1680526 Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 2015 4 Pages PDF
Abstract

First-principles calculations of the aggregation of helium interstitials in silicon have been performed to determine whether the first steps of helium-filled bubbles formation could occur by a self-trapping mechanism. These simulations show that the interaction between helium interstitials is repulsive, of low magnitude, and that this effect will saturate for a large number of interstitials. Considering the relaxation of the computational cell only leads to a small reduction of the binding energy. These results imply that the aggregation of interstitial helium atoms is highly unlikely in silicon, which allowed us to conclude that a self-trapping mechanism can not occur, and that an initial amount of vacancies is required for helium-filled bubbles formation.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Materials Science Surfaces, Coatings and Films
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