The aims of this study are to investigate (i) the influence of substrate temperature during the implant on the crystal quality of the overlying silicon layer and (ii) the synthesis of thin (less than 2000 Å) buried layers of SiO2from lower dose (∼ 1017cm−2) oxygen implants at various medium (80–150 keV) energies after a 30 min anneal at 1400°C in order to reveal the energy dependence of the minimum substoichiometric dose necessary to produce a continuous oxide layer. The main diagnostic technique used is Rutherford backscattering and channelling (RBS) of 1.5 MeV He+ions. A dynamic computer simulation of the evolution of implanted oxygen profiles is performed as a useful adjunct to experimental methods. Experimental results are compared with computer modelling of the oxygen distributions.