Photoluminescence, deep level transient spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy measurements on MeV self-ion implanted and annealed n-type silicon

Deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), photoluminescence (PL), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements have been made on n-type silicon after implanting with 5.6 MeV Si3+ ions using doses of 10(9)-10(14) cm(-2) and anneals at 525 and 750 degrees C. In all the samples, there is only a small dependence of the widths and energies of the PL zero-phonon lines on implantation dose, allowing the high resolution of PL to be exploited. In samples annealed at 525 degrees C, the PL intensity can provide a measure of the concentration of defects over the implantation range, 10(9)-10(12) cm(-2). Carbon-hydrogen complexes are identified as transient species with increasing dose, and the "T" center is related to a DLTS trap 0.20 eV below the conduction band energy E-c. At the highest doses in these samples, TEM imaging shows the presence of nanometer-sized clusters, and the PL spectra show that many previously unreported defects exist in the implanted zone, in addition to two broad bands centered on similar to 885 and similar to 930 MeV. The multiplicity of defects supports recent suggestions that a range of interstitial complexes is present in the annealed samples. Annealing at 750 degrees C produces complete recovery in both the DLTS and PL spectra for doses of less than 10(13) cm(-2). At higher doses, {113} self-interstitial aggregates are observed in TEM, along with the "903" PL signal associated with the {113} defects, and the E-c-0.33 eV "KA" DLTS trap. These data support the recent identification of that trap with the {113} defects. The well-resolved PL spectra show that many previously reported defects also exist in samples implanted with a dose of 10(14) cm(-2) and annealed at 750 degrees C, again implying the presence of a range of interstitial complexes. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)00218-8].