Room-temperature recombination of point defects produced in silicon p-n junctions by light ion irradiation

Abstract
The reverse current in a p+n silicon junction irradiated by high‐energy helium ions was measured as a function of time at room temperature. A rather large exponential decrease of the reverse current has been observed and the measured time constant is 3±0.2 days. Defect profiling by current‐voltage characteristics indicates that the damage recombination occurs without long‐range migration of defects. The defects responsible for the reverse current of irradiated silicon diodes after the long room‐temperature aging are characterized by an energy level 0.11 eV above Si midgap.