Formation of a Bistable Interstitial Complex in Irradiated p‐Type Silicon.

The influence of the injection of minority charge carriers on the formation of a divalent bistable defect (DBH) having two energy levels of Ev + 0.44 eV and Ev + 0.53 eV in its metastable configuration is investigated. Using forward current injection, the formation temperature of this defect in p‐type silicon can be lowered by about 50 °C. The production of such bistable defect is enhanced in materials with a high ratio of boron to carbon concentrations. This allows one to conclude that the boron atom is one of the constituents of the defect under study. There is also a correlation between the behavior of the bistable hole traps and a metastable electron trap observed earlier. It is concluded that these traps are related to metastable and stable configurations of the DBH defect, which has inverse occupancy level ordering in its stable configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]