Formation of Hydrogen Impurity States in Silicon and Insulators at Low Implantation Energies

Abstract

The formation of hydrogenlike muonium (Mu) has been studied as a function of implantation energy in intrinsic Si, thin films of condensed van der Waals gases (N2, Ne, Ar, Xe), fused and crystalline quartz, and sapphire. By varying the initial energy of positive muons (mu+) between 1 and 30 keV the number of electron-hole pairs generated in the ionization track of the mu+ can be tuned between a few and several thousand. The results show the strong suppression of the formation of those Mu states that depend on the availability of excess electrons. This indicates that the role of H-impurity states in determining electric properties of semiconductors and insulators depends on the way in which atomic H is introduced into the material.