Characteristics of Neutron Damage in Silicon

Abstract

The production and annealing behavior of the divacancy and the A center in Gssion-neutron-irradiated silicon was studied by infrared absorption, using the 1.8-, 3.9-, and f2-p, bands. The production rate of the divacancy was found to be high, about 5.7 cm ', and to be enhanced by the presence of boron (~2 X 10" atoms per cm'), but not by the presence of oxygen ( 1X10"atoms per cm'). The annealing of divacancies in neutron-irradiated Si required an activation energy of 1.25 eV, as in electron-irradiated Si, indicating that most of the divacancies were removed by diffusion to sinks. The annealing results also indicate that the local defect concentrations in the damaged regions can be as high as 10'0 defects cm 3, in which the divacancies still retain their individual properties as far as their infrared absorption and annealing properties are concerned. The production rate of the A center was found to be extremely low. The near-edge absorption band was also studied. About 95% of the near-edge band disappeared upon annealing in the same broad temperature range as did the divacancies. From these results, it was concluded that the majority of the total volume in localized damage regions produced by the ission-neutron irradiation of silicon is rich in divacancies and is still crystalline.

The influence of thermal treatments under hydrostatic pressure prior to irradiation on the annealing characteristics of the VO defect in Si

“…In fact, in the course of the annealing sequence, vacancies are liberated in this temperature range which are captured by oxygen atoms to form the VO defects. Sources of these vacancies are large clusters of defects [11,12], divacancies [13] and disordered regions [14]. The decrease of the O i signal in the same temperature range, supports the interpretation for the additional VO formation.…”

Predicted effects of gamma and neutron irradiation on silicon solar cells

“…Hitherto many different results have been reported about the nature of recombination centres in damaged silicon single crystals [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. It will be made clear in our calculations which recombination centre data in single crystals give characteristics for ceils consistent with experiment.…”

Particularities of the formation of radiation defects in silicon with low and high concentrations of oxygen

“…) [5] and also point defects both in the conducting matrix and in space-charge regions of silicon samples. Interstitial silicon atoms exit on the sample surface or can be captured by C i C s , C i O i , O 2i defects [6].…”