Oxidation induced precipitation in Al implanted epitaxial silicon

The behavior of Al implanted in silicon has been investigated during thermal oxidation. It has been found that precipitation of Al into Al-O-defect complexes depends on the implant energy, i.e., on the distance of the dopant from the surface. It occurs at 650 keV, but it does not at 2.0 MeV or higher energies. This phenomenon has been explained taking into account the diffusivity of self-interstitials introduced during oxidation, the oxygen present in the Si, the Al concentration, and the annealing out of defects.