Outdiffusion, lattice location and electrical behavior of Zn, Cd, Hg and Se, Te implanted into silicon at 50 keV were investigated by backscattering and channeling effect of 1 MeV He+ions and by Hall effect and sheet resistivity measurements. All the species exhibited outdiffusion with thermal processing. A significant fraction of Zn, Cd and Hg, when implanted into a substrate of 350°C, occupied regular interstitial lattice sites, while 50–60 per cent of the Se and Te atoms were on substitutional lattice sites. Selenium implanted at room temperature and mercury implanted into a substrate of 350°C exhibited depth dependent lattice location. The implanted layers showedn-type behavior: the maximum value of number of carriers/cm2was less than the number of implanted ions/cm2in all cases. The highest electrical activity was observed for Se corresponding to 25 per cent of the substitutional component.