Role of the intensity of high-temperature electron irradiation in accumulation of vacancy-oxygen defects in Cz n-Si

Kinetics of accumulation of oxygen–vacancy complexes, which is the dominant radiation-induced structural defect in the monocrystalline n-type Czochralski (Cz) silicon was studied experimentally and theoretically for silicon samples irradiated with electron beam pulses of various intensities and energies at 360 °C. The irradiation intensity was shown to have no effect on oxygen–vacancy complexes formation at temperatures when the complexes were unstable, but the complexes annealing efficiency revealed significant dependence on the electron beam intensity. In contrast, the electron beam energy affected the formation rate of vacancies themselves and their complexes with oxygen, but it did not influence annealing properties of oxygen–vacancy complexes. It occurred that the complexes generated in silicon at room temperature could be annealed at 360 °C much faster if irradiated with the electron beam during annealing. The results suggested an important role of radiation-induced ionization of a silicon crystal in transformation of oxygen–vacancy complexes into even more loaded complexes. Graphical Abstract