Electrically Active Defects of Silicon Crystals

Electrically active defects directly influence the characteristics and reliability of semiconducting devices. Therefore, it is important to study the nature of such defects. All types of microscopic defects (MD) in dislocation-free Si crystals should theoretically be electrically active, i.e., change the local electrical-field potential. The extent of the activity of the initial MD changes during various processing treatments of a single crystal, not to mention the new defects that appear during the treatments. The defects “outgrow ” the impurity atmosphere or lose it. This also affects their activity. However, most methods of observing defects are not sensitive enough to reveal “weak electrical activity. ” Quantitative criteria for evaluating the degree of activity have not been developed.