The W center in self-implanted silicon is the self-interstitial cluster I₃

We identify the W center in self-implanted crystalline Si with the three-membered self-interstitial cluster I_3 on the basis of first-principles density-functional-theory calculations matching all the known experimental signatures of the center (emission energy, extrinsic energy levels, activation energy and dissociation energy, local vibrational structure, and symmetry).