Equivalent circuit of silicon diodes subjected to high-fluence electron irradiation

Silicon diodes with a p ⁺-n junction made in a 48-μm-thick phosphorus-doped silicon epilayer (resistivity ρ = 30 Ω cm) grown on antimony-doped Si(111) wafers (ρ = 0.01 Ω cm) are studied. The diodes are irradiated by high-energy (3.5 MeV) electrons with fluences from 5 × 10¹⁵ to 2 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻². It is shown that the conventional equivalent circuit of the diode that consists of a parallel RC network and a series-connected resistor inadequately describes the dependence of the dielectric loss tanδ on variable current frequency f in the range 1 × 10²–3 × 10⁷ Hz. Another equivalent circuit is suggested that includes not only the capacitance and resistance of the n-base (the latter increases because radiation-induced defects are compensated for by shallow donors) but also the f dependence of the capacitance of the space-charge region, which is due to retarded charge exchange between deep-level radiation-induced defects.