Effects of nitrogen doping on vacancy-oxygen complexes in neutron irradiated Czochralski silicon

Abstract We have investigated the effect of nitrogen doping on the evolution of vacancy-oxygen (V-O) complexes in neutron irradiated Czochralski (CZ) silicon. During isothermal anneals in the temperature range of 290–330 °C, it is found that both the annihilation rate of VO and generation rate of VO 2 are obviously modified with nitrogen doping. Correspondingly, the activation energies for VO annihilation and VO 2 generation are 1.84 and 1.23 eV, both smaller (∼ 0.24 eV) than those of the conventional CZ silicon. Moreover, the critical temperatures for total disappearance of VO and VO 2 peaks decrease in nitrogen doped CZ silicon, which means that the conversion processes of VO to VO 2 and VO 2 to VO 3 are promoted, respectively. It is suggested that the nitrogen doping in CZ silicon which introduces a tensile stress enhances the diffusion of vacancy and VO complex, promoting the conversion of V-O complexes.