The Properties of Defects Introduced in Silicon by 10-Mev Electron Irradiation

摘要

The family of silicon devices is ever increasing. However, silicon, being a semiconductor, is much more sensitive to lattice defects than the metal and insulating materials which are constituents of most devices. Because of the desire to use electronic systems in space (where there are important quantities of charged particles) and because of the need for military systems capable of operating in a weapons environment, radiation effects in silicon is a very important topic. A good deal of information has already been obtained about the effects of neutron irradiation on silicon. A determination of minority-carrier life-time at low excess densities was performed for a wide variety of starting materials. No dependence on manufacturer, oxygen concentration, or dislocation density was found for either n- or p-type material. Futhermore, with one possible exception (Al in p-type material) the nature of the dopant was unimportant. (The dopants used were As, P, Sb, Ga, B, and Al). These and subsequent studies of the dependence of lifetime upon excess carrier density (injection level) showed that much of the earlier confusion in degradation was caused by failure to consider the operation point of the devices tested. (Author)