Deep-level transient spectroscopy studies of thermal donor annihilation in silicon by rapid thermal annealing

Abstract

The annihilation of thermal donors in silicon by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) has been studied with deep-level transient spectroscopy. The electron trap AO (Ec – 0.13 eV) observed after heat treatment at 450 °C for 10 h, which is identified with the thermal donor, disappears by RTA at 800 °C for 10 s. However, four electron traps, A1 (Ec 0.18 eV), A2 (Ec – 0.25 eV), A3 (Ec – 0.36 eV), and A4 (Ec – 0.52 eV), with the concentration of ∼1012 cm−3 are produced after annihilation of thermal donors by RTA. These traps are also observed in silicon which receives only RTA at 800 °C. This indicates that traps A1–A4 are thermal stress induced or quenched-in defects by RTA, not secondary defects resulting from annealing of thermal donors.