Luminescence associated with the presence of dislocations in silicon

Abstract

A brief account is given of some recent investigations of the luminescence associated with the presence of dislocations in silicon. These investigations show that transition metal contamination is necessary for dislocation related luminescence to be observed in plastically‐deformed float‐zone silicon and in material containing epitaxial and oxidation‐induced stacking faults. Cathodoluminescence spectroscopy and imaging measurements, and photoluminescence measurements on material with low densities of grown‐in dislocations, imply that the D3 and D4 luminescence features originate in the dislocation cores, whereas the D1 and D2 features are associated with point defects trapped in the strain fields of dislocations.

Investigation of defect levels in BaSi2 epitaxial films by photoluminescence and the effect of atomic hydrogen passivation

“…In contrast to DLTS, there is no such restrictions in photoluminescence (PL). Many studies have been carried out on the defects characterization of crystalline Si using PL [27][28][29][30][31][32]. However, to the best of our knowledge, there has been only one report on the PL of BaSi 2 bulk [33].…”

Oxygen Effect on Electrical and Optical Properties of Dislocations in Silicon

“…In particular, the effect of transition metal [3,4] or hydrogen impurities [5,6] has been extensively studied. However, the effect of oxygen has been the object of less attention although it is one of the most important impurities in Si.…”

About the D1 and D2 Dislocation Luminescence and Its Correlation with Oxygen Segregation

“…The effect of impurities on the DL intensity has been systematically proved by Higgs and coworkers [7,8], who showed that the D1 and D2 luminescence appears only on slightly metallic impurity decorated dislocations in FZ silicon and showed also a straight dependence of DL intensity on transition metal contamination density. DL eventually disappears when metallic impurities segregate as silicides.…”