WEAR-RESISTANCE OF C+-IMPLANTED SILICON INVESTIGATED BY SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY

A scanning probe microscope with a very sharp tip was used to investigate the wear resistance of single-crystal silicon and C+-implanted silicon. The C+ implantation conditions were 100 keV and 2 X 10(17) ions cm-2. The C+ concentration was analysed using secondary ion mass spectrometry, while the chemical structures of C+-implanted silicon and solid SiC were analysed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. (1) The C+ concentration in C+-implanted silicon reached a maximum of 1.5 X 10(22) atoms CM-3 at a depth of 290 nm. (2) Around this 290 nm depth the wear durability of C+-implanted silicon was higher than that of single-crystal silicon. (3) The structure of the region in which the C+ concentration was high was similar to that of solid SiC. This structure increases the hardness of the C+-implanted layer and protects against plastic deformation, resulting in a high wear durability for C+-implanted silicon.