Structure, Energetics, and Thermal Stability of Nitrogen-Vacancy-Related Defects in Nitrogen Doped Silicon

Karoui, A.; Karoui, F. Sahtout; Rozgonyi, G. A.; Hourai, Masataka; Sueoka, Koji

doi:10.1149/1.1621418

Cited by 33 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Consequently, the formation of void will be hindered and their density will decrease compared to N-free CZ Si. These results combined with our previous results obtained from molecular mechanics force field calculations (Karoui et al, 2003;Sahtout Karoui et al, 2004) and experimental measurements (Wright etching, STEM, HRTEM, and Oxygen Precipitates Profiler) (Karoui et al, 2004a(Karoui et al, , 2004b confirm that N 2 and V 2 N 2 are much more likely to adsorb O atoms than to trap vacancies thus act as nucleation centers for oxygen precipitation rather than voids. However, N-O complexes might also co-exist in the oxide layer covered walls of the voids in N-doped Si.…”

Section: Nucleation Of Extended Defects and Nitrogen Concentration Mesupporting

confidence: 81%

Application of Quantum Mechanics for Computing the Vibrational Spectra of Nitrogen Complexes in Silicon Nanomaterials

Karoui¹,

Karoui²

2012

Some Applications of Quantum Mechanics

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Section: Nucleation Of Extended Defects and Nitrogen Concentration Mesupporting

confidence: 81%

Application of Quantum Mechanics for Computing the Vibrational Spectra of Nitrogen Complexes in Silicon Nanomaterials

Karoui¹,

Karoui²

2012

Some Applications of Quantum Mechanics

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“…N 2 V 2 or N 2 V 2 ! N 2 V 2 [5,6]. The N 2 V 2 complex has been shown to attract oxygen into stable complexes, indicating the possibility of further oxygen precipitate nucleation based on the N 2 pair.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ab InitioIdentification of the Nitrogen Diffusion Mechanism in Silicon

et al. 2005

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In this Letter, we present ab initio results identifying a new diffusion path for the nitrogen pair complex in silicon, resulting in an effective diffusivity of 67 expÿ2:38 eV=kT cm 2 =s. This nudged elastic band result is compared with other nitrogen diffusion paths and mechanisms, and is determined to have unmatched agreement with experimental results. It is also shown that careful consideration of total energy corrections and use of a fully temperature-dependent diffusion prefactor have modest but important effects on the calculation of diffusivity for paired and for interstitial nitrogen. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.025901 PACS numbers: 66.30.Jt, 61.72.Bb, 61.82.Fk Nitrogen doping of silicon has become a process of increasing importance because of its various effects on the formation of extended defects in silicon. The first prominently reported effect was the complete suppression of void formation in float-zone processed crystals [1]. In Czochralski-grown silicon, because of an additional interaction with oxygen, the mechanism is less effective and a higher density of relatively smaller voids and grown-in oxide precipitates was observed in nitrogen-doped crystals [2]. Finally, nitrogen is known to increase the mechanical strength of silicon by locking dislocations [3] and, when implanted with a sufficient dose, to reduce the oxidation rate [4]. In partial explanation of the above effects, it has been shown that the N 2 pair readily complexes with vacancies, both in a metastable, immobile N 2 V configuration, and in the very stable N 2 V 2 configuration which can form from either the reaction N 2 V V ! N 2 V 2 or N 2 V 2 ! N 2 V 2 [5,6]. The N 2 V 2 complex has been shown to attract oxygen into stable complexes, indicating the possibility of further oxygen precipitate nucleation based on the N 2 pair.As early as the investigations of Stein [7] in 1985, it was concluded from isotope shifts that the nitrogen dimer configuration is prevalent at room temperature. Jones et al. [8] confirmed this conclusion using a combination of spectroscopic and ab initio investigations. Except for the work of Gali et al. [9], who calculated a binding energy of 1.73 eV, all theoretical investigations agree on a rather high binding energy between 3.67 and 4.3 eV [6,10 -12]. In contrast, the primary diffusion mechanism for nitrogen, in general, and the N 2 pair, in particular, has been disputed in the literature.In a variety of experimental investigations based on nitrogen outdiffusion from doped substrates [13] or on the indiffusion of nitrogen from the ambient [14 -17], the profiles obtained were interpreted in terms of the diffusion of N 2 as an entity. The diffusion data obtained are shown in Fig. 1 and can be described best by a diffusion constant of D N 2 35 expÿ2:34=kT cm 2 =s( 1) with the 90% confidence interval for the activation energy ranging from 2.01 to 2.77 eV. Profiles after ion implantation [18,19] are considerably more complex, and the possibility of a catalytic effect of oxygen on nitrogen diffusion was repor...

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“…A number of earlier studies on N-doped Si showed that N atoms form defect complexes comprising N atom pairs and vacancies. [9][10][11] These defect complexes are believed to form deep levels and act as carrier traps. 12,13 The results of the present study, hence, suggest that N-related defect complexes may play a major role in surface recombination of photoexcited carriers in c-Si wafers passivated by SiN x layers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scanning transmission electron microscope analysis of amorphous-Si insertion layers prepared by catalytic chemical vapor deposition, causing low surface recombination velocities on crystalline silicon wafers

Higashimine

Koyama

Ohdaira

et al. 2012

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phen

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Microstructures of stacked silicon-nitride/amorphous-silicon/crystalline-silicon (SiNx/a-Si/c-Si) layers prepared by catalytic chemical vapor deposition were investigated with scanning transmission electron microscopy to clarify the origin of the sensitive dependence of surface recombination velocities (SRVs) of the stacked structure on the thickness of the a-Si layer. Stacked structures with a-Si layers with thicknesses greater than 10 nm exhibit long effective carrier lifetimes, while those with thin a-Si layers have very short effective carrier lifetimes. A remarkably close correlation was found between the dependence of interface structures on the thicknesses of a-Si layers and the SRVs. In samples with a-Si layers less than 10 nm thick, significant damage occurred in c-Si wafers close to the interfaces, while those near a-Si layers larger than 10 nm remained nearly defect-free during observations over long periods. The observation of stacked structures without an SiNx layer, along with energy dispersive spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectroscopy analyses of nitrogen atom distributions, suggest that the preferential damage in c-Si wafers with thin a-Si layers is caused by nitrogen atoms in the interface regions of c-Si wafers that diffuse during the growth of SiNx layers.

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Structure, Energetics, and Thermal Stability of Nitrogen-Vacancy-Related Defects in Nitrogen Doped Silicon

Cited by 33 publications

References 46 publications

Application of Quantum Mechanics for Computing the Vibrational Spectra of Nitrogen Complexes in Silicon Nanomaterials

Application of Quantum Mechanics for Computing the Vibrational Spectra of Nitrogen Complexes in Silicon Nanomaterials

Ab InitioIdentification of the Nitrogen Diffusion Mechanism in Silicon

Scanning transmission electron microscope analysis of amorphous-Si insertion layers prepared by catalytic chemical vapor deposition, causing low surface recombination velocities on crystalline silicon wafers

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