Observation and electronic characterization of two E′ center charge traps in conventionally processed thermal SiO2 on Si

Abstract

We demonstrate that at least two varieties of E′ defect precursors exist in a wide variety of conventionally processed thermal SiO2 thin films. We provisionally label the defects EP and E′γp. We find that EP defect capture cross sections exceed the corresponding E′γp values by an order of magnitude, that EP centers are distributed far more broadly throughout the oxides than are the E′γp defects, and that the EP resonance, unlike the E′γp resonance is not stable at room temperature.