Photothermal ionisation spectroscopy of oxygen-related shallow defects in crystalline silicon

Abstract

Shallow thermal donors are electrically active oxygen-related thermally formed defects observed in oxygen-rich silicon annealed between 300 ° and 600 ° C. Seven donors have been identified with an average central-cell correction of only 5 meV. In view of their molecule-like nature this close agreement to the effective mass theory prediction for a hydrogen-like donor in silicon is of interest. It is shown that these centres are not correlated to the residual impurities phosphorus and boron but rather to the presence of nitrogen. Nitrogen-doped oxygen-rich samples show increased shallow thermal donor growth and a reduction in the growth of other oxygen-related donors in comparison to normally nitrogen-undoped oxygen-rich samples. A reduction in shallow thermal donor concentration at high nitrogen concentrations is reported.