The production of vacancy clusters in neutron‐damaged silicon has been investigated by electron spin resonance. It is found that the production of P3 four vacancies and P6 di‐interstitials is independent of oxygen concentration, suggesting that these defects are formed in the primary cascade. Approximately two P3 centers were formed per primary cascade independent of the primary mean recoil energy for irradiations in varying fast neutron spectra. This suggests that these defects are associated with the Brinkman spike which terminates the cascade. Low energy primaries from thermal neutron capture and subsequent gamma recoil are very inefficient in producing these centers.
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