Copper Complexes with Carbon‐Related Radiation Defects in Silicon

Abstract

Experimental and theoretical study of the interaction of mobile interstitial copper with the dominant carbon‐related radiation defects in Si is presented. The deep‐level transient spectroscopy measurements detect a passivation of the and centers due to the formation of complexes with at room temperature. Both the Cu–C and Cu–CO complexes have equal dissociation energy of 1.070.02 eV and close preexponential factors. Equilibrium structures, formation energies, and dissociation barriers for the Cu–C and Cu–CO complexes are determined by ab initio calculations performed within the framework of the density functional approach. Theory predicts that the and defects basically retain their structures upon capture of a copper atom that is located near the carbon atoms in both cases. The calculated dissociation barriers are in good agreement with the experiment.