The origin of the 0.78 eV luminescence band in dislocated silicon

Abstract

We report the results of a study into the influence of implanted impurities on luminescence in the region of the well-known D1 luminescence band that is associated with dislocations in silicon. A photoluminescence band at around 0.78 eV, which is sometimes seen in silicon containing a high density of dislocations, has been attributed to the presence of oxygen complexes. In this study we have deposited layers of Si 0.9 Ge 0.1 onto single-crystal Si substrates by MBE in order to induce dislocations in the silicon substrate. The samples have subsequently been implanted with iron, erbium or oxygen in order to study the effect of implanted impurities on D-band photoluminescence at around 800 meV. Following implantation with oxygen, two luminescence bands appear at around 0.85 and 0.78 eV, respectively. These bands are not present in either the unimplanted sample or those subject to Er or Fe implantation. The correlation between oxygen doping and the appearance of these bands supports the conjecture that they are associated with oxygen complexes.

Influence of oxygen on the dislocation related luminescence centers in silicon

“…Fig. 5 shows the dependence of the DRL band in oxygen rich sample on the excitation power (P exc ) [18]. The maximum of the band at the lowest P exc is at 820 meV and shifts to the high energy more than 10 meV at the increase of P exc by a factor of forty.…”

Time‐resolved measurements of dislocation‐related photoluminescence bands in silicon

“…1). According to [5,7] the dependence of the high energy shoulder on the excitation power implies its DA origin, as has been previously assumed for the low energy shoulder [4]. It should be noted that these two shoulders in general can not be observed simultaneously.…”

“…In particular, an investigation of the nature of the D1 low energy shoulder (about 790 meV) led to a model of donor acceptor (DA) recombination that involved a deep acceptor state in a dislocation interacting with the donor state of a thermal donor (TD) [4,5]. The replacement of the D1 band by a D-A transition due to the generation of TDs and reversible recovery of the D1 band after hydrogen passivation of TDs implies that the same dislocation state participates in both transitions.…”

Luminescence of dislocation network in directly bonded silicon wafers

“…Deconvoluting every spectrum, a signal of 0.788 eV is always existent in the luminescence spectrum. This 0.788 eV signal has been attributed to the oxygen aggregation at the bonding interface [15]. An evidence is that SIMS has revealed the existence of oxygen with higher concentration at the bonding interface.…”