Charge-state Effects on Annealing of Electron-irradiated Silicon

H. M. DeAngelis

Jan 1974 · Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Air Force Systems Command, United States Air Force

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Radiation-induced defects can alter the properties of silicon and thereby degrade the performance of devices used in electronic and optoelectronic subsystems that must operate in nuclear and space radiation environments. The factors that produce or affect the stability of these defects are important considerations in developing methods for hardening devices to nuclear radiation. The annealing behavior of the E center, a prominent defect in electron-irradiated float-zone phosphorous-doped silicon, can be monitored by capacitance measurement techniques used with silicon Schottky barrier diodes. The defect charge state can be controlled during annealing by applying a reverse bias. It has been shown that although the E center is more stable in the negative charge state, it anneals more readily in the neutral charge state. It has been found that the capacitance measurement technique provides details of the properties of discrete radiation-induced defects not possible to obtain through the more conventional measurements of the Hall effect, conductivity, and carrier lifetime. (Author).