Vacancy-related defects in n -type Si implanted with a rarefied microbeam of accelerated heavy ions in the MeV range

Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) has been used to study vacancy-related defects formed in bulk n-type Czochralski-grown silicon after implantation of accelerated heavy ions: 6.5 MeV O, 10.5 MeV Si, 10.5 MeV Ge, and 11 MeV Er in the single ion regime with fluences from 109 cm−2 to 1010 cm−2 and a direct comparison made with defects formed in the same material irradiated with 0.7 MeV fast neutron fluences up to 1012 cm−2. A scanning ion microprobe was used as the ion implantation tool of n-Cz:Si samples prepared as Schottky diodes, while the ion beam induced current (IBIC) technique was utilized for direct ion counting. The single acceptor state of the divacancy V2(−/0) is the most prominent defect state observed in DLTS spectra of n-CZ:Si samples implanted by selected ions and the sample irradiated by neutrons. The complete suppression of the DLTS signal related to the double acceptor state of divacancy, V2(=/−) has been observed in all samples irradiated by ions and neutrons. Moreover, the DLTS peak associated with formation of the vacancy-oxygen complex VO in the neutron irradiated sample was also completely suppressed in DLTS spectra of samples implanted with the raster scanned ion microbeam. The reason for such behaviour is twofold, (i) the local depletion of the carrier concentration in the highly disordered regions, and (ii) the effect of the microprobe-assisted single ion implantation. The activation energy for electron emission for states assigned to the V2(−/0) defect formed in samples implanted by single ions follows the Meyer–Neldel rule. An increase of the activation energy is strongly correlated with increasing ion mass