Thermal stability of paramagnetic defect centers in amorphous silicon nitride films

Abstract

We have investigated the thermal stability of paramagnetic silicon dangling bond centers, which are called K0 centers, generated by ultraviolet exposure of low-pressure chemical-vapor-deposited silicon nitride films. The K0 center density, which was measured by electron spin resonance spectroscopy, decayed upon isothermal annealing at 150, 240, 400, and 750 °C. Some K0 centers were not easily relaxed even after long-time annealing at 150, 240, and 400 °C. An analytical model was proposed to explain the isothermal decay of the K0 center density and the presence of long-lifetime K0 centers.