Defect engineering by surface chemical state in boron-doped preamorphized silicon

The continual downscaling of silicon devices for integrated circuits requires the formation of pn junctions that are progressively shallower, incorporate increasing levels of electrically active dopant, and sustain minimal implantation damage. In the case of boron implanted into preamorphized Si, the authors show that all these goals can be accomplished simultaneously through the use of an atomically clean surface, which during annealing acts as a large sink that removes Si interstitials selectively over dopant interstitials.