Influence of annealing and bulk hydrogenation on lifetime-limiting defects in nitrogen-doped floating zone silicon

A recombination active defect is found in as-grown high-purity floating zone n-type silicon wafers containing grown-in nitrogen. In order to identify the properties of the defect, injection dependent minority carrier lifetime measurements, secondary ion mass spectroscopy measurements, and photoluminescence lifetime imaging are performed. The lateral recombination center distribution varies greatly in a radially symmetric way, while the nitrogen concentration remains constant. The defect is shown to be deactivated through high temperature annealing and hydrogenation. We suggest that a nitrogen-intrinsic point defect complex may be responsible for the observed recombination