Electrical characterization and annealing properties of electrically active defects introduced in n-Si during sputter etching in an Ar-plasma

Deep level transient spectroscopy was used in conjunction with current-volt age and capacitance-voltage measurements to characterize sputter etching-in duced defects in n-Si as a function of Ar-plasma pressure. The reverse curr ent, at a bias of 1 V, of Pd Schottky barrier diodes fabricated on the etch ed samples increased monotonically with decreasing plasma pressure and thei r barrier heights followed the opposite trend. Sputter etching created six prominent electron traps, including the VO and VP centers and V-2(10). The non-detection of V-2(=/) is attributed to the presence of stress fields in the etched samples. A secondary defect S1 with an energy level at E-c - 0.2 19 eV is introduced during annealing at the expense of trap P4, which has s imilar electronic and annealing properties as the complex vacancy cluster E Ar201 (E-c - 0.201 eV), created in Ar-ion bombarded n-Si. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.