Continuum treatment of spatial correlation in damage annealing

The theory of diffusion limited reactions is applied to the recombination of Frenkel pairs in a recoil cascade on top of a background of pairs generated in previous cascades. Spatial correlation is taken into account by a correction factor to the standard form of the recombination rate. This factor is determined by numerically solving a diffusion-type equation for a scaled pair probability function. Results are compared with Monte Carlo diffusion simulations in the low-dose limit, and good agreement is found. The role of spatial correlation is investigated as a function of implantation dose. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.