Clusters of Radiation Defects in Silicon Crystals

While considerable progress has been achieved in radiation influence on the solid states, the quantitative assessment of defect production is very scarce. In this paper radiation defects studies in silicon crystals are briefly reviewed and comprehensively analyzed depending on irradiation energy and dose, paying special attention to electron irradiation in wide energy spectrum when crystal lattice disordered regions (clusters) occur. Electron irradiation, which is a simple way to introduce intrinsic defects, was used as one of the most powerful techniques to study point and cluster defects which affect properties of semiconductors depending on irradiation energy. Fundamental aspects of radiation induced defects are discussed and it is shown that they bring information on the threshold energy for atomic displacement, on the recombination of vacancy—interstitial pair and mainly, on radiation defects cluster formation which essentially influences on the irradiating material properties. The determination of the irradiation critical dose and energy for the formation of homogeneous disordered regions (clusters) are detailed.