2 MeV electron irradiation of silicon at elevated temperatures: Influence on platinum diffusion and creation of electrically active defects

Abstract

Platinum has been diffused at 300–800 °C for 30 min into n-type epitaxial silicon samples during 2 MeV electron irradiation using a dose of 1×1017 e− cm−2. Thereafter the samples were characterized by capacitance–voltage measurements and deep level transient spectroscopy. The samples with irradiation temperatures of 500, 600, and 700 °C could be analyzed, while the compensation in the others was too high. Most of the observed deep levels were characterized using the Arrhenius method. Their possible identities are discussed. The deep level of substitutional platinum first appears in the sample irradiated at 600 °C and is the dominant defect level at even higher temperatures. We observe that at a chosen distance from the sample surface (17 μm), the concentration of electrically active platinum after an irradiation at 700 °C is a factor of 1000 higher than in an ordinarily diffused sample. Taking into account experiments where platinum was diffused into pre-irradiated samples, the observed behavior is attributed to a reduced correlated recombination of interstitials and vacancies.