Defects and acceptor removal in 60Co γ-irradiated p-type silicon

Abstract

Boron-doped silicon detectors used in high radiation environments like the future HL-LHC show a degradation in device performance due to the radiation induced deactivation of the active boron dopant. This effect, known as the so-called Acceptor Removal Effect (ARE), depends on particle type, particle energy and radiation dose and is usually explained by the formation of boroninterstitial - oxygen-interstitial (BiOi) defects that induce a donor-type defect level in the upper part of the Si band gap. Here we present defect characterization studies using Thermally Stimulated Current technique (TSC) and Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) on a set of epitaxially grown p-type silicon diodes of different resistivity, irradiated with 60Co γ-rays. We used the defect parameters (activation energy, charge carrier capture cross sections and defect concentration) obtained from DLTS experiments for modeling the corresponding TSC spectra, and subsequently compared those with the experimental TSC results. This approach shows that the di-vacancy which is well characterized by DLTS correlates with the so-far unspecified charge emission signal of the X-defect that partially overlaps with the BiOi peak in TSC spectra. Additionally, in order to evaluate the impact of BiOi defect formation on the macroscopic properties of the device, we compared the BiOi defect concentration with the change in the effective carrier concentration Neff obtained from C-V measurements. It shows that the variations in Neff are about twice the changes in the BiOi concentration, which is in perfect consistency with the assumption of boron deactivation by the formation of the BiOi donor in irradiated p-type Si.