EVIDENCE FOR INTRINSIC POINT-DEFECT GENERATION DURING HYDROGEN-PLASMA TREATMENT OF SILICON

Silicon self-interstitials are injected from the surface into the bulk during plasma-assisted ion etching of Si. In samples treated in a hydrogen plasma - due to the low surface etch-rate - the interstitials precipitate into microdefects giving rise to broad photoluminescence features. Although we cannot rule out the incorporation of hydrogen in these microdefects, we show that the occurrence of the photoluminescence depends predominantly on the generation of intrinsic defects at the surface.