Effect of germanium doping on the formation kinetics of vacancy-dioxygen complexes in high dose neutron irradiated crystalline silicon

Abstract

The effect of germanium (Ge) doping on the formation kinetics of vacancy-dioxygen (VO2) complexes in high dose neutron irradiated crystalline silicon (c-Si) has been quantitatively investigated using infrared spectroscopy at 10 K. It is observed that Ge doping of 1019 cm−3 enhances the formation of vacancy-oxygen (VO) complexes by ∼15% during neutron irradiation and slightly suppresses the conversion of VO into VO2 complexes. By studying the generation kinetics of VO2 complexes in the temperature range of 300–345 °C, it is found that the activation energies of VO2 generation are determined to be 1.52 and 1.71 eV in the reference and Ge-doped c-Si, respectively. According to the theory for diffusion limited reactions, it is suggested that Ge doping can retard the VO diffusion in c-Si and therefore reduce the capture probability of Oi for VO complexes. This may be attributed to the temporary trapping of vacancies by Ge atoms. Hence, the formation of VO2 complexes in c-Si is slightly suppressed by Ge doping.

Substitutional carbon-dioxygen center in irradiated silicon

“…This is affected by impurities and defects introduced in the lattice in the course of material growth and/or of material processing. [1][2][3][4][5][6] The understanding of the structure, properties and behavior of defects in Si is highly significant both for scientific and technological reasons. 1,2 Oxygen and carbon are the most common impurities unintentionally introduced in the Si lattice, during crystal growth and device processing.…”

The CiCs(SiI)n Defect in Silicon from a Density Functional Theory Perspective

“…In the past few years, however, the aim has been to replace Si with other substrates (such as germanium) in nanoelectronic applications. Nevertheless, Si will remain the mainstream material for sensors and photovoltaics [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. From a fundamental solid-state physics perspective, the study of point defects and defect clusters in Si remains of interest, as these can impact its materials properties.…”