Identification of photoluminescence P line in indium doped silicon as In{sub Si}-Si{sub i} defect

• Published in: AIP advances 2015-01, Vol.5 (1)
• Main Authors: Lauer, Kevin, Möller, Christian, Schulze, Dirk, Ahrens, Carsten
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ANNEALING; CARBON; CHARGE STATES; DEFECTS; DOPED MATERIALS; HYDROGEN; INDIUM; INTERSTITIALS; LINE DEFECTS; MATERIALS SCIENCE; PEAKS; PHOTOLUMINESCENCE; SILICON; SILICON OXIDES; SPECTROSCOPY
• ISSN: 2158-3226; 2158-3226
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4905066

Indium and carbon co-implanted silicon was investigated by low-temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy. A photoluminescence peak in indium doped silicon (P line) was found to depend on the position of a silicon interstitial rich region, the existence of a SiN{sub x}:H/SiO{sub x} stack and on characteristic illumination and annealing steps. These results led to the conclusion that silicon interstitials are involved in the defect and that hydrogen impacts the defect responsible for the P line. By applying an unique illumination and annealing cycle we were able to link the P line defect with a defect responsible for degradation of charge carrier lifetime in indium as well as boron doped silicon. We deduced a defect model consisting of one acceptor and one silicon interstitial atom denoted by A{sub Si}-Si{sub i}, which is able to explain the experimental data of the P line as well as the light-induced degradation in indium and boron doped silicon. Using this model we identified the defect responsible for the P line as In{sub Si}-Si{sub i} in neutral charge state and C{sub 2v} configuration.