Annealing of Electron-Irradiated <i>n</i>-Type Silicon: Illumination and Fluence Dependence

Abstract

The effects of strong illumination and radiation fluence on the annealing behavior of the E center in electron-irradiated phosphorus-doped float-zoned silicon were studied by Hall-effect measurement. Illumination of the sample during anneal increased the rate of recovery significantly. Increasing the radiation fluence and, hence, the level of the induced-carrier compensation, also increased the rate of anneal. These results were found to be consistent with a previously proposed model in which the charge state of the defect was found to be a major determinant of the activation energy of recovery.