Annealing of irradiation-induced defects in arsenic-doped silicon

Abstract

The annealing of the E3 (Ec−0.30 eV) and E4 (Ec−0.42 eV) defect levels in electron-irradiated arsenic-doped silicon has been studied by deep-level transient spectroscopy. The annealing studies of the E4 defect level in the diffused junctions indicate first-order kinetics with activation energies of 1.40 and 1.38 eV for the neutral and negative charge state of the defect, respectively. Even though the activation energies for thermal anneal at the two annealing modes are practically equal, charge state effects are operative. A secondary defect level E5 (Ec−0.24 eV) appeared in the spectrum during the annealing of the diffused p+nn+ junctions. The growth of E1 (Ec−0.17 eV) as the E4 defect anneals out seems to suggest that dissociation is the dominant process by which E4 is removed from the system.