Xenon Nanobubbles and Residual Defects in Annealed Xe‐Implanted Si(001): Analysis by the Combination of Advanced Synchrotron X‐Ray Diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy Techniques

Abstract Residual crystalline defects on the subsurface of Xe‐implanted Si(001) and post‐annealed substrates are investigated by advanced X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy techniques. Local characterization highlights the features of recrystallization and structural evolution induced by thermal treatments resulting from the formation of gaseous Xe nanobubbles embedded in a heavily twinned surrounding Si matrix. Both mappings of conventional reciprocal space and X‐ray multiple‐beam diffraction exhibited different aspects from the kinematical and dynamical X‐ray theories, respectively, contributing to a better understanding and description approach of residual damage in ion‐beam implanted materials. A simple layered model is proposed based on the experimental Q‐Scans profiles and computational calculations, distinguishing host matrix structural strain artifacts from the Xe‐bubbles pressure probed by a Xe M_4,5‐edge blue shift in EELS spectra. Bubble pressure is determined by extrapolating the equation of state for xenon at high temperatures. The study also supports an experimental constant C_Xe^M‐edge for the ∆E ≅ C n theoretical expression.