Effect of deep dislocation levels in silicon on the properties of p-n junctions

We present the results of studies on the influence of deep levels, due to dislocations in electronic-grade silicon, on the lifetime of minority carriers and on the current-voltage and capacitance-voltage characteristics of p-n junctions. The parameters of the deep levels were determined by means of dynamic spectroscopy. The carrier lifetime in the high-resistance region of the p-n junction correlates well with the dislocation density and varies from 10^–7 sec to 3 · 10^–8 sec when the dislocation density N_d varies from 10⁷ cm^–2 to 5 · 10³ cm^–2. The voltage across the p-n junction at a high level of injection varies 1.6 to 6.2 v as a function of N_d. The ionization energy of deep levels associated with dislocation in silicon is 0.44 and 0.57 eV, measured from the bottom of the conduction band.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 1, pp. 81–84, January, 1988.