Electrical Properties of Silicon with Bistable Impurity Complexes

Abstract

AbstractMany impurity complexes in silicon such as boron-oxygen and iron-boron complexes are found to be bistable. Commonly bistable recombinative complexes in silicon are studied through carrier lifetime experiments and are analysed by use of Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination theory. SRH recombination theory is valid for stable defects with one configuration and one energy level in the band gap, however, the theory might fail upon considering the recombination centers through bistable defects, which can be in two different configurations separated by a potential barrier. This work presents a study of electrical properties of silicon with bistable impurity complexes. The analysis has been performed for statistics of free electrons and holes, their recombination rate and lifetime. The results have been compared with those obtained from the Shockley-Read-Hall recombination theory.