EPR study of He-implanted Si

Electron paramagnetic resonance has been used to study the influence of thermal treatments on defect evolution in helium-implanted Czochralski single-crystal silicon. It is shown that the thermal treatment induces helium migration and capturing by vacancy clusters that transform into pressurized bubbles. Such transformation produces a strain field, which in turn affects the dangling bond’s lineshape in its vicinity. It is shown that the strain field causes asymmetry of dangling bond lineshape that is proportional to the strain field. This selects the electron paramagnetic resonance as a convenient technique for the monitoring of the early phases of bubble formation.