Preamorphization of ultrashallow implanted boron in silicon on insulator is optimized to produce an abrupt boxlike doping profile with negligible electrical deactivation and significantly reduced transient enhanced diffusion. The effect is achieved by positioning the as-implanted amorphous/crystalline interface close to the buried oxide interface to minimize interstitials while leaving a single-crystal seed to support solid-phase epitaxy. Results support the idea that the interface between the Si overlayer and the buried oxide is an efficient interstitial sink.