Copper donors in silicon

The temperature dependences of the resistivity and of the Hall constant were measured for dislocation-free p-type silicon saturated with copper under different conditions at temperatures round 1000°C. The analysis of the results and their discussion led to the conclusion that the copper donors form complexes the dimension and physical characteristics of which depend on the way the sample is prepared.     

Paramagnetic defects in silicon/silicon dioxide systems

Paramagnetic defect centers in Si/SiO₂ systems have been observed by direct ESR, optically-induced ESR, and NMR relaxation of liquids at the outer oxide surface. In general, all the defects reported elsewhere were confirmed, but with some significant discrepancies in character. The P_B center was observable even at room temperature. The P_C center was found to exist much deeper in the silicon than previously determined, and it is tentatively identified to be neutral iron. Surface liquid relaxation is very strong on oxidized crushed silicon, is not dependent on liquid composition, and suggests a strong wide-line spin center in the outer oxide surface. The optically activated spin center created by HF/HNO₃ etches was found not to involve H₂O or OH functionalities, and appears to be a nitrogenous radical. The optical defect center lies within the silicon, and its presence warrants caution in use of HNO₃-based etches in wafer processing. Oxides prepared at elevated pressures show fewer P_A and P_C defects than those produced by conventional processing, which indicates potential merit in pressure oxidation methods.     

碘量法测定铜精矿中的铜

碘量法是利用碘和碘离子的氧化还原性进行滴定的分析方法.在传统碘量法的基础上,对分析过程进行了简化及改进,已达到迅速测定铜精矿中铜的目的,实验证明,结果可靠,方法快捷.     

X-acceptors in silicon

X-acceptors in silicon single crystals are members of a related set. It is shown that each column IIIA acceptor can be transformed into its associated X-acceptor by means of one unique physical interaction. Substitutional carbon is shown to be responsible for this interaction in agreement with Joneset al. [6]. It is found that all other column IVA substitutional impurities can complex with ordinary column IIIA acceptors leading to 15 new X-like acceptors which have not yet been experimentally isolated.     

Hydrogen implantation and diffusion in silicon and silicon dioxide

Depth profiles of hydrogen implanted into crystalline silicon in random direction at different fluences have been measured by the¹⁵N technique and by SIMS. Whereas hydrogen implanted at a fluence of 10¹⁵ ions/cm² shows some limited mobility, no such mobility is observed for higher implantation fluences. In these cases, ballistic computer codes describe the depth distributions well, within the ranges of both experimental and theoretical accuracy. Annealing up to 510 K does not change the hydrogen distributions.Furthermore, high-fluence hydrogen implantation into silicon dioxide has been examined. There is some indication for radiation-enhanced diffusion during the implantation process. Upon subsequent thermal annealing, the hydrogen is found to diffuse, probably via a trapping/detrapping mechanism associated with an OH/H₂ transformation of the hydrogen bonding.     

Positron annihilation in diamond,silicon and silicon carbide

Recent positron lifetime and doppler broadening results on silicon, diamond and silicon carbide are presented in this contribution. In as-grown Czochralski Si ingols vacancies are found to be retained after growth at concentrations typically around 3×10¹⁶/cm³. 10 MeV eleciron irradiation of variously doped Si wafers shows that only high doping concentrations well in excess of the interstitial oxygen concentration causes an increase in the amount of monovacancies retained.In porous silicon very long-lived positronium lifetimes in the range 40–90 ns are found. Polycrystalline diamond films contain various types of vacancy agglomerates but these are found to be inhomogeneously distributed from crystallite to crystallite. Electron irradiation of silicon carbide results in two vacancy-related lifetimes which are interpreted as resulting from carbon and silicon vacancies.Paper presented at the 132nd WE-Heraeus-Seminar on Positron Studies of Semiconductor Defects, Halle, Germany, 29 August to 2 September 1994     

Photoluminescence characterization of silicon nanostructures embedded in silicon oxide

This paper describes a simple method to analyze the photoluminescent characteristics of materials based on embedded light-emitting nanoclusters. Photoluminescence spectra of deposited silicon sub-oxide layers with the same composition and different thicknesses have been obtained. A saturation of the total luminescence intensity is observed with increase in thickness. By analyzing the photoluminescence spectra several optical and structural parameters can be evaluated. We thus propose a model in which the absorption of light from a nanostructure layer implies the possibility of subsequent luminescence and affects the underlying layers as well. By fitting the data to the developed model, two fundamental parameters are extracted: nanostructures absorption probability, which is independent of the emission energy and the spectra of emission probability of an excited nanostructure which fits a Gaussian shape.     

Resonance effects in the non-radiative de-excitation of silicon in porous silicon

Resonant silicon Auger KLL and 2s and 2p photoemission spectra of a porous silicon sample have been studied when excited by photons in the energy domain of the 1s edge in pure silicon and silicon oxide. Characteristic features of a resonant process could be detected. In particular, the constant initial state spectrum of the 2p state of silica behaves similarly to that encountered in systems which present a well-defined atomic level. This is due to the existence of a well-localized molecular orbital built in the SiO₄ unit. The use of high-energy photons, which generate high-energy electrons, allows these photoemission experiments to be quite bulk sensitive.     

Chemical shifts in auger electron spectra from silicon in silicon nitride

The chemisorption of nitric oxide on (110) nickel has been investigated by Auger electron spectroscopy, LEED and thermal desorption. The NO adsorbed irreversibly at 300 K and a faint (2 × 3) structure was observed. At 500 K this pattern intensified, the nitrogen Auger signal increased and the oxygen signal decreased. This is interpreted as the dissociation of NO which had been bound via nitrogen to the surface. By measuring the rate of the decomposition as a function of temperature the dissociation energy is calculated at 125 kJ mol^?1. At ～860 K nitrogen desorbs. The rate of this desorption has been measured by AES and by quantitative thermal desorption. It is shown that the desorption of N₂ is first order and that the binding energy is 213 kJ mol^?1. The small increase in desorption temperature with increasing coverage is interpreted as due to an attractive interaction between adsorbed molecules of ～14 kJ mol^?1 for a monolayer. The (2 × 3) LEED pattern which persists from 500–800 K is shown to be associated with nitrogen only. The same pattern is obtained on a carbon contaminated crystal from which oxygen has desorbed as CO and CO₂. The (2 × 3) pattern has spots split along the (0.1) direction as $\text{(m,}\text{n}\text{3}\text{)}$ and $\text{(}\text{m}\text{2, n}\text{)}$. This is interpreted as domains of (2 × 3) structures separated by boundaries which give phase differences of $\text{2π}\text{3}$ and π. The split spots coalesce as the nitrogen starts to desorb. A (2 × 1) pattern due to adsorbed oxygen was then observed to 1100 K when the oxygen dissolved in the crystal leaving the nickel (110) pattern.     

Quantum confinement in amorphous silicon quantum dots embedded in silicon nitride

Amorphous silicon quantum dots (a-Si QDs) were grown in a silicon nitride film by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Transmission electron micrographs clearly demonstrated that a-Si QDs were formed in the silicon nitride. Photoluminescence and optical absorption energy measurement of a-Si QDs with various sizes revealed that tuning of the photoluminescence emission from 2.0 to 2.76 eV is possible by controlling the size of the a-Si QD. Analysis also showed that the photoluminescence peak energy E was related to the size of the a-Si QD, a (nm) by E(eV) = 1.56+2.40/a(2), which is a clear evidence for the quantum confinement effect in a-Si QDs.     

Electron trapping levels in silicon dioxide thermally grown on silicon

Photocurrents associated with optical release of photoinjected electrons trapped in thin films of amorphous silicon dioxide have been studied. Temporal and spectral variation of the photocurrents were examined in detail: the effects on spectrally resolved response caused by variations in applied electrical field, wavelength sweep rate, and optical belaching are reported. All measurements were made on metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors. The experiments were interpreted in terms of a straightforward model of optical excitation and transport of electrons out of localized energy levels in the silicon dioxide band gap. Semi-quantitative analysis indicated that a distribution of states peaked approximately 2·1 eV below the conduction band edge was associated with an electron trapping center distributed rather uniformly throughout the oxide film. In the wet thermal oxide specimens examined, the average density of trapping centers was greater than 10¹⁴ cm⁻³. A time-stable spread in energy of approximately 0·5 eV was measured, and was attributed to local disorder in the amorphous insulator. The existence of an optically inactive charge distribution in the oxide films, with bulk average density greater than 10¹⁵ cm⁻³, was indicated by collected charge vs. applied field data.     

Experimental evidence of the vacancy-mediated silicon self-diffusion in single-crystalline silicon

We have determined silicon self-diffusivity at temperatures 735-875 degrees C based on the Raman shift of longitudinal optical phonon frequencies of diffusion annealed 28Si/30Si isotope superlattices. The activation enthalpy of 3.6 eV is obtained in such low temperature diffusion annealing. This value is significantly smaller than the previously reported 4.95 eV of the self-interstitial mechanism dominating the high temperature region T>855 degrees C and is in good agreement with the theoretical prediction for the vacancy-mediated diffusion. We present a model, containing both the self-interstitial and the vacancy terms, that quantitatively describes the experimentally obtained self-diffusivity between 735 and 1388 degrees C, with the clear crossover of the two diffusion mechanisms occurring around 900 degrees C.     

Surface passivation in n-type silicon and its application in silicon drift detector

Based on the surface passivation of n-type silicon in a silicon drift detector(SDD), we propose a new passivation structure of SiO2/Al2O3/SiO2 passivation stacks. Since the SiO2 formed by the nitric-acid-oxidation-of-silicon(NAOS)method has good compactness and simple process, the first layer film is formed by the NAOS method. The Al2O3 film is also introduced into the passivation stacks owing to exceptional advantages such as good interface characteristic and simple process. In addition, for requirements of thickness and deposition temperature, the third layer of the SiO2 film is deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD). The deposition of the SiO2 film by PECVD is a low-temperature process and has a high deposition rate, which causes little damage to the device and makes the SiO2 film very suitable for serving as the third passivation layer. The passivation approach of stacks can saturate dangling bonds at the interface between stacks and the silicon substrate, and provide positive charge to optimize the field passivation of the n-type substrate.The passivation method ultimately achieves a good combination of chemical and field passivations. Experimental results show that with the passivation structure of SiO2/Al2O3/SiO2, the final minority carrier lifetime reaches 5223 μs at injection of 5×10¹⁵ cm^-3. When it is applied to the passivation of SDD, the leakage current is reduced to the order of nA.     

Delta doping in silicon

Two-dimensional doping sheets (“δ-doping”) are integral parts of many novel semiconductor device concepts. Their practical realization in silicon (Si), however, was long delayed by the difficulty to introduce dopants into Si in a well-controlled way during epitaxial growth. Recent advances in the understanding of epitaxial growth and the incorporation of dopants in Si have overcome these difficulties and opened a new field in Si materials and device research. In this article, we review the growth, processing, and characterization of epitaxially grown 5-doped Si. Furthermore, we discuss the electronic subband states of such structures. Finally, we give an overview of device concepts that use 5-doping and analyze their properties.     

Transition metals in silicon

A review is given on the diffusion, solubility and electrical activity of 3d transition metals in silicon. Transition elements (especially, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu) diffuse interstitially and stay in the interstitial site in thermal equilibrium at the diffusion temperature. The parameters of the liquidus curves are identical for the Si:Ti — Si:Ni melts, indicating comparable silicon-metal interaction for all these elements. Only Cr, Mn, and Fe could be identified in undisturbed interstitial sites after quenching, the others precipitated or formed complexes. The 3d elements can be divided into two groups according to the respective enthalpy of formation of the solid solution. The distinction can arise from different charge states of these impurities at the diffusion temperature. For the interstitial 3d atoms remaining after quenching, reliable energy levels are established from the literature and compared with recent calculations.     

Laser damage in silicon

Laser damage in silicon has been investigated using single crystals of p-type Si with thin wafers of 0.325 mm thickness being exposed to Nd³⁺ laser pulses. The laser was in a free generation mode, with wavelength 1.064 μm, and pulse duration time of 100 μs, with energy of 200 mJ pulse^-1. It was found that this energy caused visible damage at the sample surface, which is interesting topographically and from viewpoint of the theory of the interaction of laser light and solid dielectric matter.     

Excitons in silicon nanocrystallites

Recombination and binding energies of excitons in nanocrystalline silicon quantum dots are calculated within the effective mass approximation including the effects of the induced electrostatic polarization. The calculated exciton recombination energies compare well with other calculations and with the results from photoluminescence measurements in porous silicon. The calculated exciton binding energies are far larger than the bulk exciton binding energy and show substantial dependence on the matrix that surrounds the nanocrystallites. A model is proposed that explains the main orange-red, blue and infrared luminescence peaks of porous silicon within a simple unified framework.     

Inhomogeneities in silicon p-n-junctions

Latent macroscopic defects in silicon are detected by electrical and electron microscope measurements. They lead to anomalous temperature dependence of the Fermi level position and growth in the hole capture coefficient. A level with energy of 0.55 eV measured from the conduction zone controls the recombination process. It is proposed that macroscopic defects develop upon association of oxygen-silicon vacancy complexes. Action of an electron beam leads to reversible changes which increase upon multiple scanning, affecting the value of the diffusion length.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 4, pp. 71–75, April, 1991.