Electron paramagnetic resonance study of metastable defects in silicon
This dissertation work describes a study of three metastable defects in silicon using the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) technique. These defects were discovered recently by DLTS in electron-irradiated n-type silicon and believed to be C[sub i]-related. Unlike a usual defect, these defects can have more than one lattice configuration and can convert from one configuration into another. The ultimate goal of the study has been to identify unambiguously the chemical constituent(s) of these defects and to understand the microscopic structure of the various configurations of the defects. The understanding of these defects would certainly enhance our current knowledge of the family of C[sub i]-related defects in silicon. Because of the similar electronic configuration between the carbon and the silicon atom, the result of the current study may help to visualize possible structures of the missing self-interstitial. The author studied electron-irradiated phosphorus, arsenic and antimony-doped materials and found in total five EPR centers. Three of them have been identified as arising from the neutral charge state of the stable and two of the four metastable configurations of the C[sub i]-P[sub s] pair. The other two are believed to be associated with the stable configurations of the C[sub i]-As[sub s] and C[sub i]-Sb[sub s] pair, respectively. The EPR properties of these EPR centers allow us to construct models for the atomic structures of the defect pairs. It is concluded that the stable configuration consists of a [100] split C[sub i]- group-V atom interstitialcies and the metastable configurations are C[sub i]-Si interstitialcies perturbed by nearby group-V atoms. This dissertation work is another successful example of studying metastable defects in semiconductors, following the great success of an earlier C[sub i]-C[sub s] study.
- Research Organization:
- Lehigh Univ., Bethlehem, PA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 7236325
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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