Metastable acceptors in boron doped silicon: evidence of the defects contributing to carrier induced degradation

Abstract

This work focuses on the recombination-enhanced reactions of boron related defects in compensated silicon and their impact on the electrical performance of silicon devices. Using deep level transient spectroscopy, we measured the defect spectra in the collector of 14 MeV fusion neutron irradiated p-n-p silicon transistors during forward current injection, as well as the corresponding degradation kinetics of both current gain and leakage current on the same device. Two hole traps at E c + 0.43 eV and E c + 0.53 eV are proved to be acceptors in the lower half of the gap with significant recombination enhanced effects. These metastabe acceptors degrade the current gain by changing the space charge distribution in the p-n-p structure and are linked with carrier-induced boron-oxygen complexes responsible for the minority-carrier lifetime degradation of silicon photovoltaics.