Defects and nanocrystals generated by Si implantation into a-SiO/sub 2/

Electrical charge-trapping characteristics have been studied in thermal oxides that were implanted with Si, experimentally using electron spin resonance (ESR), capacitance versus voltage (CV) measurements, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and theoretically with Density Functional Theory (DFT) using plane waves. Our study examines possible defect structures associated with excess Si in thermal oxides.