Transformation behavior of metastable defects induced in n-type silicon by hydrogen implantation

We report on the transformation behaviour of metastable defects labelled EM1 (Ec-0.29 eV), EM2 (Ec-0.41 eV) and EM3 (Ec-0.55 eV) which are induced in n-type silicon by hydrogen implantation. Hydrogen implantation was performed at 88 K with an energy of 90 keV to a dose of 2 × 1010 cm−2. After fabrication of Schottky diodes on the implanted surfaces, deep level transient spectroscopy measurements were made to monitor metastable behaviour of defects. All three metastable defects are regenerated with reverse-bias cooling and removed with zero-bias cooling. 10-min isochronal annealing reveals that EM1 is regenerated around 270 K and is removed around 220 K. The EM2 (EM3) regeneration temperature is around 270 K (270 K) and its removal temperature 220 K (260 K). Isothermal annealing treatments for EM1 show that its transformation follows first order kinetics for both regeneration and removal. An activation energy is 0.94 eV and a frequency factor 6 × 1014 s−1 for regeneration of EM1, and 0.73 eV and 3 × 1013 s−1 for its removal.