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Characterization of deep-level defects in highly-doped silicon with asymmetric structure by transient capacitance spectroscopy

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Abstract

Deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) is a widely used method to analyze the properties of deep defects in semiconductors. However, it has been rarely reported to measure the deep-levels of highly-doped silicon because the large leakage current badly affects the transient capacitance signal of DLTS technique, due to the trap occupancy dominated by thermal emission instead of capture of carriers. Herein, by employing an asymmetric structure to reduce leakage current, we observed two deep-level defect states of highly phosphorus-doped silicon (7 × 1017 cm−3) in the DLTS spectrum, corresponding to the E-center (vacancy-P trap) and doubly negative charged states. Furthermore, the photocurrent spectrum of the sample under 4 K shows two mid-infrared response peaks, arising from the photoexcitation behavior of the above two defects. This finding provides a new route to measure the deep-level defect properties of highly-doped semiconductor materials using DLTS method. It also suggests potential applications of photoexcitation activity of defects in photoelectric detection.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 62274168, 11933006 and U2141240), Hangzhou Leading Innovation and Entrepreneurship Team (No. TD2020002), and Key Research Project of Zhejiang Lab (Nos. 2022MD0AL02 and 113013-AL2205).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Infrared Physics, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200083, China

    Chixian Liu, Wei Dou, Changyi Pan, Ziwei Yin, Jingwei Ling, Tianye Chen, Yufeng Shan, Jiaqi Zhu, Huiyong Deng & Ning Dai

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Chixian Liu, Wei Dou, Changyi Pan, Ziwei Yin, Xiaoyan Liu, Jingwei Ling, Tianye Chen, Yufeng Shan, Jiaqi Zhu, Huiyong Deng & Ning Dai

  3. School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, China

    Chixian Liu, Wei Dou & Tianye Chen

  4. Zhejiang Laboratory, Hangzhou, 311100, China

    Huiyong Deng & Ning Dai

  5. Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou, 310024, China

    Changyi Pan, Xiaoyan Liu, Yufeng Shan, Jiaqi Zhu & Ning Dai

  6. Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering, Changzhou, 213164, China

    Ning Dai

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  1. Chixian Liu
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Contributions

This manuscript was written through the contributions of all authors that agreed with this submission. CL prepared the samples and simulated the energy band diagram. WD and CP performed the I-V and C-V measurements. ZY, XL and JL performed the DLTS measurements. TC and YS performed the structural analysis. JZ, HD and ND conceived the project. All authors participated in writing the manuscript and discussing all the results.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jiaqi Zhu, Huiyong Deng or Ning Dai.

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Liu, C., Dou, W., Pan, C. et al. Characterization of deep-level defects in highly-doped silicon with asymmetric structure by transient capacitance spectroscopy. J Mater Sci 58, 10651–10659 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08675-1

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