Abstract
Thermally stimulated currents (TSCs) in semiconductors are analyzed theoretically. The rate equations describing TSCs are solved numerically for various heating profiles, which makes it possible to evaluate the ionization energy, concentration, and capture cross section of traps. The slow and fast retrapping approximations are examined for an arbitrary heating profile. A new approach to TSC data processing is proposed: cleaning of a peak from the lower temperature peak by storing the preilluminated material in the dark at the relaxation temperature of the lower temperature peak. It is shown that heating (constant-rate or exponential) followed by isothermal holding makes it possible to determine the ionization energy of traps without knowing the retrapping mechanism. This approach is adapted for the case when the retrapping time is comparable to the carrier lifetime. Partially compensated silicon with impurity photoconductivity is prepared by doping with gold and phosphorus. It is shown that, using resonance photoexcitation, one can identify the nature (electron or hole) of traps and evaluate their ionization energy. The depths and capture cross sections of three trapping centers in Si<P, Au> were evaluated.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Haering, R.R. and Adams, E.N., Theory and Application of Thermally Stimulated Current in Photoconductors, Phys. Rev., 1960, vol. 117, no. 2, pp. 451–454.
Kireev, P.S., Fizika poluprovodnikov (Semiconductor Physics), Moscow: Vysshaya Shkola, 1969.
Chmyrev, V.I., Dudkina, T.D., Skorikov, V.M., et al., Thermally Stimulated and Photoelectric Effects in Silicon Doped with Gold: I. Analysis of Differential Equations of Thermally Stimulated Current, Neorg. Mater., 1997, vol. 33, no. 9, pp. 1041–1053 [Inorg. Mater. (Engl. Transl.), vol. 33, no. 9, pp. 878–888].
Arushunyan, O.B. and Zaletkin, S.F., Chislennoe reshenie obyknovennykh differentsial'nykh uravnenii na Fortrane (Numerical Methods for Solving Ordinary Differential Equations in FORTRAN), Moscow: Mosk. Gos.Univ., 1990.
Boglaev, Yu.P., Vychislitel'naya matematika i programmirovanie (Numerical Methods and Programming), Moscow: Vysshaya Shkola, 1990.
Forsythe, G.E., Malcolm, M.A., and Moler, C.B., Computer Methods for Mathematical Computations, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1977. Translated under the title Mashinnye metody matematicheskikh vychislenii, Moscow: Mir, 1980.
Grossweiner, L.I., A Note on the Analysis of First Order Glow Curves, J. Appl. Phys., 1953, vol. 24, no. 10, pp. 1306–1307.
Nicholas, K.H. and Woods, J., The Evaluation of Electron Trapping Parameters from Conductivity Glow Curves in Cadmium Sulphide, Br. J. Appl. Phys., 1964, vol. 15, pp. 783–794.
Elkomoss, S.G., Samimi, M., Hage-Ali, M., and Siffert, P., Accurate Evaluations of Thermally Stimulated Current and Defect Parameters for CdTe Crystals, J. Appl. Phys., 1985, vol. 57, no. 12, pp. 5313–5319.
Smirnov, V.I., Kurs vysshei matematiki (A Course of Higher Mathematics), Moscow: Nauka, 1967, p. 230.
Milnes, A.G., Deep Impurities in Semiconductors, New York: Wiley, 1973. Translated under the title Primesi s glubokimi urovnyami v poluprovodnikakh, Moscow: Mir, 1977.
Vertoprakhov, V.N. and Sal'man, E.G., Termostimulirovannye toki v neorganicheskikh veshchestvakh (Thermally Stimulated Currents in Inorganic Materials), Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1979, p. 336.
Gorokhovatskii, Yu.A. and Bordovskii, G.A., Termoaktivatsionnaya tokovaya spektroskopiya vysokoomnykh poluprovodnikov i dielektrikov (Thermally Stimulated Current Spectroscopy of High-Resistivity Semiconductors and Insulators), Moscow: Nauka, 1991.
Chmyrev, V.I., Analysis of a Single Thermally Stimulated Current Peak in Slow and Fast Retrapping Approximations, Neorg. Mater., 1999, vol. 35, no. 10, pp. 1159–1160 [Inorg. Mater. (Engl. Transl.), vol. 35, no. 10, pp. 983–984].
Chmyrev, V.I., Skorikov, V.M., Larina, E.V., and Zuev, V.V., Analysis of Differential Equations of Thermally Stimulated Currents in Semiconductors: Arbitrary Heating Profile, Neorg. Mater., 2001, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 292–297 [Inorg. Mater. (Engl. Transl.), vol. 37, no.3, pp. 227–232].
Skorikov, V.M., Chmyrev, V.I., Larina, E.V., et al., Thermally Stimulated Currents in Si〈P,Au〉: Exponential Heating Profile, Neorg. Mater., 2001, vol. 37, no. 9, pp. 1067–1073 [Inorg. Mater. (Engl. Transl.), vol. 37, no. 9, pp. 904–909].
Chmyrev, V.I., Skorikov, V.M., Bykovskii, Yu.A., et al., Photoelectric Properties and Thermally Stimulated Current Spectra of Si〈P,Au〉, Neorg. Mater., 1999, vol. 35, no. 9, pp. 1031–1041 [Inorg. Mater. (Engl. Transl.), vol. 35, no. 9, pp. 873–881].
Skorikov, V.M., Chmyrev, V.I., Larina, E.V., and Zuev, V.V., Thermally Stimulated Currents in Si〈P,Au〉: Analysis of Rate Equations, Neorg. Mater., 2001, vol. 37, no. 9, pp. 1055–1066 [Inorg. Mater. (Engl. Transl.), vol. 37, no. 9, pp. 894–903].
Ryvkin, S.M., Fotoelektricheskie yavleniya v poluprovodnikakh (Photoelectric Phenomena in Semiconductors), Moscow: Fizmatgiz, 1963, p. 496.
Skorikov, V.M., Chmyrev, V.I., Chumaevskii, N.A., et al., Vanadium in Bismuth Titanate Single Crystals: Quantitative Determination and Effect on Optical Properties and Photoconductivity, Vysokochist. Veshchestva, 1990, no. 1, pp. 218–227.
Laug, D.V., Complex Nature of Gold-Related Levels in Silicon, Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter, 1980, vol. 22, no. 7, pp. 3917–3921.
Bonch-Bruevich, V.L. and Kalashnikov, S.G., Fizika poluprovodnikov (Semiconductor Physics), Moscow: Nauka, 1977, p. 672.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Skorikov, V.M., Chmyrev, V.I., Zuev, V.V. et al. Thermally Stimulated Currents in Semiconductors: Analysis of Rate Equations for a Single-Level Model and Thermally Stimulated Currents in Si<P,Au>. Inorganic Materials 38, 751–780 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019784108805
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019784108805