Study of Silicon Amorphization by Xenon Ions Using Transmission Electron Microscopy and Monte Carlo Simulation

Xenon ions with energies of 5 and 8 keV are used to amorphize a single-crystal silicon substrate. Cross-sectional samples of the irradiated areas are examined by transmission electron microscopy in the bright-field mode, and the thicknesses of the amorphized layers are determined based on analysis of the obtained images. The ion-bombardment process is modeled using the Monte Carlo method along with the critical point defect density model, which makes it possible to obtain theoretical estimates of the thickness of these layers. The calculation results are compared with experimental data. It is shown that Monte Carlo simulation describes the low-energy xenon-ion-induced amorphization of single-crystal silicon with acceptable precision.